One Falls: Change Of Heart(s)
by Congar
Summary: As a strange and panicked call comes just before midnight. It asks of Aofil to hurry as quickly as they can over to Undyne and Alphys' house. Reason being, an experiment gone amok. What was supposed to just be a fun little surprise for Frisk's birthday has turned the cast into humans, and not just any humans. It's up to Aofil to help the now humans to come back to monsters!


The last drops of the cheap and hurried coffee hits Aofil's tongue. Their tongue recoils from the heat, but it's not enough to scold it. With a sigh through their lips, Aofil removes the cover from their paper cup to confirm that yep, it is indeed empty. They dispose of it into a nearby trashcan.

Calling in the dead of night like this? Good thing it's Friday. No, wait, it's past midnight. It's Saturday. Or Aofil-please-hurry-we-need-you-here-and-then-hang-up-without-giving-Aofil-time-to-answerday.

Aofil could sure go for another coffee, they have a sneaking suspicion on the account of it being the monsters. They're never cooking up something simple. On top of it, they need Aofil's help? What have they gone and done now? If Alphys called to settle another anime discussion with Undyne, Aofil swears...

Or they would if they didn't feel so damn tired.

The gravel path up to Alphys and Undyne's house scrunches under their shoes. It's the only sound present in the chilly night currently hanging over Aofil's head. It's a cloudless evening, so they're not worried about tripping over whatever of Alphys' invention that might be out and about doing whatever it's designed to do.

Silhouettes of various sizes are scurrying back and forth in the lit windows. Aofil would open their eyes wider to see exactly who it is if they had any energy left. The coffee they bought is enough to get them to the front door, but to be awake further they're gonna need something stronger. Maybe Alphys can whip something up once Aofil's inside.

The doorbell jingles the familiar anime theme song when pressed. Season one of Mew Mew. Not as good as season two, according to Aofil, but to each their own. It's not like they're gonna fight Undyne and Alphys over it. That would just be silly. The two of them do it plenty to not have to involve Aofil.

They take a step back as to not be hit by the door when Undyne eventually kicks it open.

But nobody came.

Aofil rings the bell again. Strange, the door usually opens before Aofil even has time to ring once.

After another half a minute of waiting Aofil finally hears footsteps closing in from inside the house. They don't recognize the sound of them though. Does Alphys have other guests? Human guests, it sounds like. They've spent enough time with the monsters to recognize the difference between soles of skin, scale, bone, and fur. The silhouettes in the window look strikingly like humans to boot.

Are they having a party? Human party? Intriguing.

The door is opened, and it's indeed a human. A hunched over human, tucking at her white shirt, and tapping her fingers together. Almost like a human version of Alphys.

"Hey," Aofil greets with a nod. "Is Alphys home?"

"Alphys!" shouts Undyne from the living room. "Is that Aofil?"

The hunched over human turns around.

"What?" slips out of Aofil. Their mouth is locked half opened, bewildered and stunned. Their eyes widen, despite their tiredness. Why did this human turn around when Undyne called for Alphys? What's going on?

"Y-yes, i-it is," the hunched human answers in Alphys stead, and with her voice..

Why did she answer in Alphys' stead? And with Alphys' voice?

A familiar red bundle of hair flies out from the living room, and Aofil sighs in relief. Must be Undyne's.

Their sigh turns into a startled cough as what follows isn't the blue scaly hue of Undyne's face, but the smooth and darkened skin of a human wearing Undyne's eye patch.

The human smiles, but with a large gap between her rows of teeth. "Great! Maybe now we can figure out this mess."

The smiling human turns her head, but her nose gets caught on the door frame. "Ngah!" she curses while rubbing it carefully.

"What?" falls out of Aofil again.

With tears forming in her eyes, despite the now frowning human's determined grumble not to let them, she looks back at Aofil. "I really hope you can solve this!" she groans before turning back into the living room, and ricocheting her chest on the same door frame.

Slow as a stone statue, and with the same face as one, Aofil looks back down at the hunched over human still with them in the hallway. She wrings her hands together, and then releases them. Almost as if she's scared by the feeling. "Y-yeah, w-we need your help, Aof-fil."

"Who are we?"

"W-we are w-we," the woman repeats. She puts her hands over her face, and again jolts them away after a second with a squeal.

A very, very, familiar squeal.

Aofil's eyebrows shoot through the roof in disbelieving realization. "Alphys?"

The woman nods, her entire face blushing in embarrassment. She contemplates putting her hands up to her face again, but decides against it.

Aofil lifts a finger towards the living room. "And that was..."

"U-Undyne."

"I see." Aofil says, despite not accepting it as real.

"What the hell is taking so long?" screams an unfamiliar and annoyed female voice.

"Asriel," calms Toriel's voice, "be patient. Aofil will do everything they can to help us."

"Asriel?" Aofil repeats slowly. They are still not believing their ears.

The woman, who apparently is Alphys, not that Aofil can fathom it, nods. "Y-yes."

"I… How?"

A gust of wind brushes past Aofil, but the chilly feeling against their leg is immediately replaced by a pair of warm cushions. Aofil looks down, and a short and grinning woman stares up at them.

"a bit too close?"

Before Aofil can say something, not counting their complete loss for words, the blue hooded female grabs a hold of Alphys' arm. When she reaches out to Aofil she halts her hand, and looks down on her chest surrounding Aofil's legs. With an inquisitive hum she pockets her free hand. "i wonder if this works," the woman thinks out loud before shortcutting away.

"neat, it works," she confirms after arriving in the middle of Alphys' and Undyne's living room, surprised and pleased over having brought Aofil along. A bit of pride too, but she won't show it.

"HUMAN!"

Aofil barely has time to catch their bearings before they're smothered in the embrace of a woman at least a head taller than them. Their surprised yelp doesn't escape the two breasts pushing against either side of their lobes.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THIS ALTERNATE FORM, AOFIL!" the woman reassures while securing both her hands on Aofil's shoulders. "FOR YOU SEE, IT IS I"

No…

"THE GREAT"

Oh god no…

"PAPYRUS!"

Please god no!

"That's quite enough, Papyrus," a deep yet still feminine voice commands. "Please, release Aofil."

Aofil instinctively gasps for air as their head is released from the fleshy ferrule squeezing their head. The air doesn't even reach their lungs before the sight of the figures surrounding them forces it right back out of them.

"Aofil," calms Toriel's voice, but her calming is completely undone when Aofil spots her. The same soothing eyes are now green. Surrounded in skin, not fur. Her face is still gently round, but the flatness of it combined with her familiar smile is crossing all the wrong wires in Aofil's head.

She's flanked on both side by similar looking women. One shorter, and one taller than her. The smaller one sits with her arms crossed over her chest, and struggling to ignore the feeling. She tries to blow the golden hair away from her eyes, but it falls back almost immediately.

The larger one sits tense as a violin string. Hands on her knees, and not moving a single muscle. Struggling to not look down, and struggling not to meet any and all eyes around the room. Her physique is imposing, all two of them.

"Asgore?" Aofil asks the tall one.

She nods faintly.

Aofil moves their perplexed finger to the shorter one.

"Asriel."

The shorter one sighs deeply, "Yes," and curls her slender lips in disgust at the sound of her own voice.

"W-we w-wanted to do something s-special for F-Frisk's b-birthday," Alphys starts explaining before pausing as she's distracted by the feeling of her lips.

"Alright," spills out of Aofil's stunned mouth, like a tumbleweed falling off a cliff's edge.

"B-but something w-went w-wrong."

"I can...I can see that."

"could we try and hurry this up?" Sans drums on the tops of her chest. "my back is not used to these."

Aofil tries their best to ignore Sans immense quandary. Try being the operative word. "Before we continue with anything, the less anyone of you talk, the better," Aofil states, very firmly. They have to get some form of control over this before they have to resort to slamming their head against the nearest wall. "I've no idea what's happening, and I need a moment to collect myself."

"so you don't want to hear my theory whether or not having sex with us will solve this?"

Aofil snaps their head to Sans, but then immediately snaps it back when Sans winks seductively at them. "Sans! What did I just say?"

"i'm feeling a bit warm in these clothes as well, maybe i should remove some."

Aofil's cheeks strain as they're dragged into an uncomfortable smile. "How the fuck is this funny to you?" they plead as if possessed by Burgerpants.

Sans shrugs, making sure that her chest follows her palms up. "i'm just trying to make the breast of the situation."

"SANS!"

Papyrus is just making it worse!

"And why are you chuckling?" Asriel asks Toriel with a scowl.

"Just! Please! Everyone! Shut up!" Aofil yells while slicing the air with their arms. Once their desperate remark has been made, they take a breath. "Alphys, explain. For the love of everything, please explain."

"W-we're h-humans."

"human females," Sans adds.

"Zip it!" Aofil growls back at her.

Sans complies by playing with the one on her hoodie, dragging it up and down quickly. "gotcha," she winks again with a snap of her finger.

Aofil looks quickly away. "Continue," they beg of Alphys.

"W-we w-wanted to s-surprise Frisk. J-just for a s-short w-while. I d-didn't mean for i-it to b-be like t-this."

Alphys again debates with herself whether or not to put her hands over her face. She reaches for her tail, but grabs only air.

Aofil drags a hand through their hair and sighs through their lips at all of this. "Ok, so what now? Even better, how the hell did this happen?"

All heads turn towards Alphys, and she hides her face between her hands. This time her embarrassment overwhelms the alien feeling, and the hands stays there.

Aofil should've guessed it. Who else was a suspect, really?

"to be fair," Sans begins, still running the zipper of her sweatshirt up and down. "we did kinda ask it of her."

"To be turned into human females?" Aofil asks with their hands pressed against their lobes. "What!"

"no, no, no," Sans reassures.

Aofil's hands returns down. "Good."

"just humans."

Just to shoot back up again! "God dammit!"

"It's true though!" Undyne intervenes. "We wanted to be humans for Frisk's birthday."

Aofil turns their stunned and pleading hands towards Undyne. "But why?" they sigh, annoyed by the confusion going on. Just why?! "Why would you do this?"

"YOU SEE, HUMAN!" Papyrus lowers her finger, and strokes her chin for a second. "YOU SEE, HUMAN, JUST LIKE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM, WE WANTED TO DO A SWAP OF SORTS! MONSTERS TO HUMANS, AND HUMAN TO MONSTERS!"

"So buy a costume?" Aofil proposes to deaf ears. Ears that are not supposed to be there! "Mettaton must sell something useful for that!" They pause for a fearful second as something dawns on them, and it's not the sun outside. It's still very much midnight. "Don't tell me that he's a human as well?"

Alphys shakes her head. "N-no."

A sigh of relief escapes Aofil, but it's cut short. "Wait!" Aofil's head is flooded with another thought thought. "When you said humans to monsters?"

"you and frisk," Sans answers, still fiddling with her zipper. "but i guess that plan is postponed. or should i say, postboned?"

"No, actually," Aofil retorts immediately. "You're a human now, so the joke doesn't work anymore."

"HA! FINALLY!"

"heh, true." Sans shrugs and blows her newfound lips. "but come on, it was just a chest."

Papyrus sighs back into the sofa with her arms crossed in defeat.

"A-actually, h-he's s-still a s-skeleton," Alphys says with a laughter meant for confidence, but producing the complete opposite. She blushes hard. Harder, that is.

Sans snaps a finger to Alphys. "thank you."

"Doesn't matter," Undyne replies. "He looks like a human."

"she," Sans corrects. "thank you very much."

"Stop!" Aofil yells. Silencing the room. "We're not discussing semantics about Sans' pun! I know that I started it, but can we just stop! The fact that it takes precedence over you being humans is just..."

Aofil exhales to try and calm themselves down. It doesn't really get their energy down as low as they want to though. "Alphys!" they accidentally shout.

She jumps as the volume of Aofil's voice startles her, and without her tail to help her balance, she falls over backwards.

Aofil squeezes the bridge of their nose while helping Alphys up with their other hand. "Sorry. Let's just," they sigh deeply to again try and relax a bit. "Let's start from the beginning. It all began with Papyrus proposing that you all become humans for Frisk's birthday."

Alphys nods.

"And then?"

"W-well, I c-checked around f-for some monster magic that c-could help. I found that Mettaton likes to e-employ monsters with shaping m-magic. S-so that his guests c-can look perfect enough for his show."

Aofil nods to that. "I have first hand experience with that, yes."

"A-and then I t-tried inc-corporating s-some of your human DNA i-into the magic. O-our s-souls are t-the same, b-but there's a s-shell of illus-sion o-outside that giv-ves us thes-se bodies."

Aofil doesn't know enough magic to dispute that. They know barely anything, but that's beside the point. They are familiar with human biology though, and they're not sure if Alphys is.

"What kind of DNA?"

"T-the ones t-hat you get from your p-parents. The X one."

Aofil waits for Alphys to continue, but to their fear she doesn't. They shake their head slowly. "No." This was what they were worried about.

Alphys' breathing turns into worried gasps, "N-no?"

Aofil lifts up two fingers. "There are two. One X, and one Y. Males have X and Y, and females have double X."

"so you have-"

"Shut it!"

Alphys breathing stop, and her eyes widen with deep dread. "T-two? Y?"

"y not."

"Not helping in the damn slightest here, Sans," Aofil remarks with a snarl.

She flicks her hair away from her face. "just because i'm a girl?"

"Don't fucking play that card, dude. I swear."

"dude?"

Aofil rubs their pounding templates, and Asgore is forced to step in. She clears her throat, pausing to let her new voice sink in. "Sans," she pauses again to let it sink in further, "would you kindly?"

Sans bows her head. "if my queen wishes so."

Asgore is none too pleased with that comment, but she lets it slide. "Thank you." Just barely though. Toriel is debating whether or not she can though. Asriel is face deep into her hands, regretting every single second she's spent here, and will further spend here.

"Moving on!" Aofil tries desperately to. "What happened next?"

Undyne whistles innocently. Although the fact that she started is proof enough that she's guilty of that she's trying to be innocent about. Aofil moves their eyes to hers, which she quickly averts.

"Undyne?" Aofil asks in the same tone they would a lightly trained dog. With same intentions as if the dog had just pooped on the floor.

Her whistling becomes louder and, she thinks, more innocently. Aofil isn't letting this fish off the hook though. Ex fish? They force a smile that even they feel is way too plastered, and try again. "Undyne?" Aofil asks as nonchalantly as possible, but it's as innocent as Undyne's whistling.

"S-she-" Alphys starts before her words are drowned out by Undyne's borderline screaming.

"Please tell me, Undyne. You're the one that called this a mess," Aofil reminds.

Undyne's whistling trails off, and she looks around the room before sighing. "I wanted to feel how it was," she admits.

"How what was?"

"Being human, before the party. So that I would know how much stronger I would be as a human so that I could show it off to Frisk!"

Yeah, sure. Whatever. "And how is it?" Aofil sighs.

Undyne taps on her nose. "This is always in the way! I can't see anything. How can you be stronger than us with this thing always blocking your view?"

"You have one eye..." Aofil throws a thumb over their shoulder. "And the Dreemurrs have muzzles in the way." They follow their thumb with their head. "Well, obviously not now, but you get my point. You'll get used to it."

Before Alphys can point the obvious out, Aofil realizes. "Wait, no, don't get used to it. We're gonna fix this."

"And these!"

Aofil doesn't even have to look to know what Undyne means. "Yes, those. It's a human feature. We're not gonna go into detail about what they're for."

"so soft..."

Aofil's eye twitches violently. "Before Sans drives me completely up the wall and through Mt. Ebott!" They turn back to Alphys. "What did Undyne do afterwards, Alphys?"

"S-she t-tested it."

"Only on herself?"

"That was the plan," Undyne defends, "but it kinda, well, exploded."

Aofil's not surprised. Nor are they surprised that they aren't surprised.

"I-it seems to be l-located to this h-house though." Alphys eyes widen again. "At l-least I h-hope so."

"I bought a coffee from a monster on my way here," Aofil recalls. "So it seems that you were lucky."

Asriel scoffs loudly, and then grumbles over the sound of it.

"Considering what could've happened," Aofil adds. "And then?"

"Well," Toriel starts. "I was putting the finishing touches on a pie of mine when I noticed a fairly sweet smell. Asriel here," Toriel motions for her offspring, but said offspring pushes the hand away.

"I don't want to see your hand," Asriel says hard.

"princess asriel, why the long face? or the lack of, in this case."

With a glare that could melt stone, Asriel grits her teeth against Sans. "Be careful that you don't split your lips with that smile of yours now that you have a pair, Sans."

"heh," Sans winks. "good one. not the only pair we've been blessed with though." Asriel doesn't accept the praise though, and turns away her head. "don't be like that, my princess," Sans laments with more fake remorse than a Mettaton branded soap opera. "let down your hair, asriel, now that you can. are you jealous because mine are bigger than yours?"

An incredibly loud cough from Toriel silences the room.

"i'm just asking."

Toriel is unsure how to react, but she composes herself. Aofil can tell that it takes some great effort from her to do it. "Anyway, Asriel peeked his-"

Asriel's head twitches at the word 'his'. Her hair flops down over her eyes again, and she forces it behind her ear.

"you're catching on to this very quickly, princess asriel."

"Peeked his head," Toriel continues after a short pause, "around the corner asking if the tea was ready. Asgore said from the living room that he hadn't put in on yet, and that's the last thing I remember while still being..." Toriel clears her throat while dragging her hand up and down herself. "Not like this."

"And then you woke up human?"

"just like that book. except we're not ugly, if i do say so myself."

Toriel nods. "Yes, Aofil. We all woke up human. It was a strange feeling, skin. Still is, mind you. No offense though!"

Aofil puts up a calm hand. "None taken. Don't worry."

"It's not as tough as my scales though!" Undyne mutters as she pinches the skin on her arm. "It's so elastic! How is it good for defense? Absorption? Seems to be easy to pierce through. It might be more resilient to blunt attacks, now that I think about it. We'll have to test later!"

Toriel silences Undyne with a quick and piercing look before continuing, "The first human I saw wasn't me though, it was Asriel. I didn't know at the time, but when he asked, even with the voice he has now, I could tell."

"Mom..." Asriel mutters under her breath.

"I was scared too, my child," Toriel comforts, but to a questionable effect.

"I ALMOST DIED!" Papyrus informs. "BUT USING MY NEWFOUND BRAIN AND THE POWER WITHIN I QUICKLY DEDUCED THAT IT WAS BECAUSE MY NEWFOUND BRAIN AND THE POWER WITHIN WAS SCREAMING FOR ME TO BREATHE! SO I DID!"

Papyrus takes a large demonstrative inhale. Her clothing tenses to the point where Aofil looks away as to not see it burst apart. They look back when they feel Papyrus' breath against their neck, and she bows proudly. "MY HEAD FEELS STRANGE!"

"Yes, we have to breathe, but not like that. Just do it normally and it won't feel like you're light headed."

"how can he when his head is filled now?"

Aofil is at the same time both annoyed and relieved that Sans' zipper is still functional. They want to run it all the way up to cover her face, but she probably has a quip planned for that, so Aofil's not gonna give Sans the satisfaction.

Aofil makes a guess as to what happened next. "So you all eventually made it to the living room?" They get it confirmed by the unanimous nodding. "And then decided to call me?"

"Not really," Undyne butts in. "Alphys joined us a bit later as she tried to figure out a solution."

"I d-din't find one," Alphys admits.

"as we can see," Sans remarks, and nimbly dodges a small spear thrown by Undyne. A very small spear. So small that it doesn't even break the fabric of the sofa Sans is sitting on. It bounces on the pillow before landing silently on the sofa pillow and almost disappearing into the pink carpet on the floor.

"You seem to still be able to use your magic," Aofil says while tapping their chin. "Don't know if that helps or anything. Seems a bit weak though."

Undyne's fists clench with anger as Sans picks up the spear and measures it against her pinky finger. It barely covers it.

"N-no, I alread-dy conf-firmed that when I m-made a v-voice mod-dulator for my p-phone."

"To use so that I wouldn't hear that yours were different when you called me? Yours is the same though, Alphys."

"No," laments a sighing Asgore, "to use so that I could cancel the human meeting that was planned around this time."

"Right," Aofil acknowledges. "So, you can use magic as humans, but it's weaker. Why is it weaker?"

"W-we're n-not r-real humans, as f-far as I can t-tell. Our s-souls aren't as powerf-ful as a human's."

Undyne makes the obvious more obvious by shouting, "I tested it!"

Alphys nods. "It's the r-reason the house still stand-ds. I h-have an idea as to w-why we're like this though."

Alphys stops. For what reason Aofil struggles to find out, "So yeah, pray tell, what's the reason?" they ask with their arms outstretched.

"Oh," Alphys realizes. "I t-think t-that the magic is surrounding our souls, so our forms are based on that instead of our own. It's like a shell. We're still ourselves inside, not in body though, but in soul. It's also why our magic is a bit," Alphys looks over to Sans who's picking her teeth with Undyne's tiny spear, "weaker. It's being filtered through this shell around our soul, and also through our new bodies. We're not accustomed to them. Magically, that is. Physically is another story, I think. We haven't really tested that. I don't think we have actual organs or such like you do, but that the functions are mimicked by the magic this shell produces. Papyrus doesn't really have to breathe, but the shell around his soul is imitating the need. His phantom brain needs oxygen from his phantom lungs, otherwise it starts acting up. It's kinda like, what's it called, placebo? Just because the reason is fake doesn't mean that the outcome is."

Papyrus takes another large inhale of air. "STILL FEELS FUNNY!"

"Great," Aofil lies. "So how do we solve it?"

"i still have an idea," Sans reminds. He flicks Undyne's spear away and it fades away before hitting the ground.

"And you're volunteering to be the first one?" Aofil asks in an attempt to shut Sans down.

"you'd like that, wouldn't you?" she teases with another wink.

"I'm afraid I'll have to surprise you by saying no, Sans," Aofil informs with a tidal wave of a disgusted undertone. "I hope you can survive."

"i may," she puts her hand over her chest, "but can my heart?" Sans' brow furrows as her hand moves up and down on her chest. "wow, this is really weird feeling it thump. you can say that i'm heartfelt."

"Fantastic," Aofil lies again. "Good for you, Sans."

She bows her head.

Aofil returns to Alphys. "But seriously."

"i was," Sans intercepts.

"No, you weren't," Aofil calls out over their shoulder. "Alphys, how do we fix this?"

"I was t-thinking of r-replicating the effec-ct, but the ot-ther way around."

"Which means making me into a monster?" Aofil runs their hands over their face. "Isn't it?" They beckon for Alphys to leave the room with them. "Is there somewhere we can speak alone?"

"P-perhaps outside?"

Should work. Aofil nods and follows Alphys out the front door. The night is chilly, but Aofil's brain is on the highest gear, so for them the temperature is perfect.

"I-I und-derstand if you're n-not comfort-table with t-this, Aofil."

"I really am not, Alphys. Not considering what happened back at Mt Ebott with the Soul Extractor."

"T-this w-would be different though," Alphys defends. "It w-wouldn't b-be like a f-fusion. If it h-helps, then I'm feeling l-like myself. Barring well, the skin and," Alphys taps her nose, "this." She spins around carefully as to not fall over. "And not having a tail." She ruffles her hair. "And having this itch. I kinda like it t-though. R-reminds me of Mew Mew's companion during episode six of-"

Aofil is looking anything but convinced, and that's not even counting Alphys comparing herself to that waste of a character in Mew Mew season one.

"S-so you know..." Alphys taps her fingernails together, to get a close as a recognizable feeling as possible. "N-not that big of a d-deal."

Her very easily spotted lie doesn't manage to convince Aofil, and they sigh with their head in their palm. "God dammit."

A suppressed yelp from Alphys forces Aofil to lift their head. "What?" they ask, but get no answer. They follow Alphys' eyes down the gravel path, and almost bites their tongue to force it from not screaming.

Frisk waves happily as they walk up the gravel path.

"God dammit!" Aofil repeats under their breath.

/

How deep can this hole of stupid fucking shit go? Aren't they already at bedrock?

Aofil quickly ushers Alphys into the house while ignoring Frisk's perplexed look. They raise a quizzical finger against the hunched over human Aofil is not too subtlety punting inside the house. "Who is-"

"Frisk!" Aofil greets as they slam the door closed and elbow the keypad mounted next to the door. They hit it square on the camera, causing the keypad to send out a small cluster of sparks. Aofil rubs their elbow while gritting their teeth. They definitely felt a shard of glass penetrate their skin, but that can be handled later.

Frisk has to be handled now!

"What are you doing here?" Aofil asks as naturally as possible.

Frisk keeps their perplexed look centered on Aofil. "Who was-"

"The human? She is just a friend of mine!"

Technically, Aofil's not lying.

Frisk's eyes shift towards the window. The silhouettes are still there, arguing about something. To Aofil's immense luck their voices are distorted through the glass, and muffled enough that they can't catch what's being said. "So those are-"

"My friends," Aofil corrects, making sure that plural form comes through loud and clear. "Plural friends of mine."

Frisk's brows furrow deeper than Aofil could ever imagine.

"My place is a bit too small to accommodate them all, so I asked Undyne and Alphys if I could borrow their house for the evening." Aofil puts on an innocent smile. "They're both out at the moment. Some anime event or something."

"Your house is bigger though?" Frisk feels a need to remind. "Or did it run away?"

"Did you manage to convince Aofil to be turned into a monster?" asks a voice through the door, furrowing Frisk's brow even further. They move to look through the window, but Aofil stops them, instantly raising the suspicions to the exposed moon and beyond.

"Adult stuff!" Aofil blurts out. They are probably gonna regret it further down the line, but it's the only thing they can figure out at the moment.

Frisk raises an eyebrow, and Aofil hopes that their fading composure will work in their favor.

With a pair of uncomfortable eyes Frisk glances at Aofil's hand that's placed on their shoulder. Aofil removes it, and chuckles a, not so, relieved sigh. "So…yeah."

Frisk's face indicates clearly that they already know way too much, and they walk down the gravel path to the street while slowly shaking their head.

Once they're out of audible distance Aofil sighs so heavy they're afraid they'll knock down the house. They go for the handle, but the door is locked.

'Emergency lockdown' says the busted display with a fair number of missing letters. Aofil knocks on the door, and Alphys opens it carefully. "Are they g-gone?" she asks quietly.

"Frisk?" Aofil enters the house again. "Yeah..." and pauses for a bit to take in that they're gonna have to figure out how to hand wave away what they said to Frisk. "They're gone."

"Good!" Alphys closes the door. "G-good," and takes a steadying breath. "S-so, about what I s-said?"

Oh yeah…

That….

"Y-you'd h-have to d-do it f-for everyone of u-us, t-too. S-sorry, I should've m-mentioned."

Hole getting deeper!

"Everyone?" Aofil asks with their voice wavering. "Everyone?"

Alphys nods. "M-my plan is to t-try and," she puts up her hands with the palms facing each other, "someh-how," she twists one upside down, "t-to counter our human surrounded monster soul with your monster surrounded human soul and," she claps her hands together, pausing for a brief second to take in the feeling and accept it, "have them fight, and take out each other."

"And you're basing this on?"

"A g-guess," Alphys admits, letting her hands fall down in shame. "It's all I h-have t-though! Y-your s-soul should b-be m-more sus-scept-tible to the monster s-shell, consid-dering how it is, b-but," she adds with an upraised finger, "y-you're s-still a h-human. So you should have n-no problem shaking t-the monster s-shell off if it d-doesn't work."

"Lots of 'should' here, Alphys. Again," Aofil puts their hand over their chest, "you're basing this on?"

"A g-guess," Alphys admits with her hands over her eyes, "again."

Aofil blows their lips. "What a mess..."

Alphys curls up as if she still had her tail. "I know… I'm sorry, Aofil."

"It! Is! Always! There!" Undyne screams from the living room, making Alphys jolt off her feet. "I can't take my eye off it! It's so small, but it's always there!"

Undyne's so dramatic, but she makes a good point. Alphys wouldn't lie about Aofil being able to shake the magic off if things get overboard too. They've trust her with worse, and if push comes to shove, then Frisk might be able to help. That kid is even more jaded to the monsters' shenanigans than what Aofil is, and that's saying very much more than a lot.

And if push comes to shove what Aofil said to Frisk wouldn't be a lie, however much that helps.

Just one last thing to try and make sure of. "Is it gonna hurt?"

Alphys doesn't really know how to answer. "W-what do you mean?"

"The transformation, will it hurt?"

"I d-didn't feel anything."

"But you were unconscious," Aofil reminds.

Alphys thinks for a second. "I'm n-not hurting right now eit-ther."

Another unknown, but it's an unknown on a pile of unknowns. The wound can only be salted so much before it stops hurting from more.

Aofil sighs, "Fine," and rubs their face with their hands. "I'm gonna regret it, but fine. How do we do it?"

"I n-need some of your DNA so that I can p-prepare the m-magic." Alphys produces a swab and a small scissor from her pockets. Aofil's not sure how to feel about her being this well prepared for Aofil agreeing to this.

"How did you get the first sample you used?" Aofil asks while being careful not to bite down on Alphys swabbing the inside of their chin.

She also cuts off a couple of strands of hair from Aofil's head for good measure. "Mettaton was k-kind enough to find some for us."

The swab leaves a bad taste in Aofil's mouth. Either that, or the image they have of Mettaton choosing, what he would consider, the best human sample. The less thinking Aofil dedicates to that, the better.

Alphys pockets the vial, and turns her head to the rest of the humans sitting in the living room. "W-who's first?"

Before Alphys even has time to finish the question Undyne stretches her arm as high up as she can. "Me!"

No one else is volunteering, much to Undyne's pleasure.

She jumps out of her chair with excitement so high it might pop the roof off like a champagne cork. "This is gonna be awesome! Ngaaaaaahahahaha! Fighting a human! As a human! Against a monster! That is a human!"

Her excited heaving while breathing through teeth clenched in anticipation almost drains the entire room of oxygen. Undyne rushes over to Alphys as to hurry this up. "What do you need, Alphee?" She wants this to already have happened!

"S-some of your s-soul essence. I n-need to b-boil your magic d-down so t-that it's n-not contaminated b-by the shell."

Undyne's smile fades into a worried frown.

"N-not liter-rally."

The smile bounces back up, and Undyne scoops Alphys up. With the squealing human under her arm, she rushes to the basement door, which she flings open with her free hand. "It's gonna be so awesome!" she repeats with a yell. Her laughter echoes up from the basement. A small pained grunt halts the laughter for a second, but it immediately grows back in strength, even surpassing it.

A minute or so later Undyne, with Alphys in one arm, and a flask of glowing liquid in her other, emerges back up from the basement stairs. She hands the flask to Aofil. "Drink up! I can't wait!"

Her smile is the biggest Aofil has ever seen, even with her now smaller mouth. They look at the flask. A cyan glow pulsates from the liquid within. The same color as Undyne's spear. Her grinning face is reflecting in the liquid.

It's not helping at all.

"D-don't w-worry about the taste," Alphys tries to comfort. "It sh-houldn't be bad."

"It's not really the taste that's the problem," Aofil admits. "It's what happens after I swallow it."

"You'll become me!" Undyne pats Aofil hard on the back. They almost drop the flask. "Kinda! But still, it's gonna be awesome!"

If this was any other situation in the world Aofil would've appreciated her enthusiasm. Not in this one though, and Aofil is holding one of the reasons in their hand.

"Where are we gonna fight?" they ask to stall for time. Maybe Alphys has an epiphany so that they don't have to through with this. "In the living room?"

"Nah!" Undyne nods towards the kitchen, and beyond. "In the backyard! Too cramped in here. The living room can barely handle one of me! And we're gonna fight with two!"

"DO NOT WORRY AOFIL! I BELIEVE IN YOU!" comes Papyrus voice, cheerful as always, encouraging as always. It's not his actual voice though, which makes the words ring a bit hollow in Aofil's ears. They want to believe, but it just sounds wrong coming from an actual pair of lips.

Aofil looks down into the liquid. There are so many reasons not to drink it. How much it'll probably hurt them when they're transforming, the uncertainty of being able to turn back, and fighting a friend.

The dread of Papyrus permanently having the voice she currently has utterly shatters the reasons against though!

Aofil breathes out one last time through straight teeth and their nose. They shake their head, "What a mess," and with a last swirl of the liquid inside they throw their head back with the flask against their mouth.

Why does it have to viscous like syrup? And just as sweet? It's like cough syrup, only harder to swallow. It goes down in a single clump, upsetting Aofil's stomach before it even reaches that far down.

It doesn't take long before dizziness takes over. Aofil stumbles forward, and Undyne catches them with their free arm.

"I'll give you a pass now, but don't you dare make me look bad by fainting as me later! Ngaaah!"

Aofil's vision blurs, their entire body feels off. Something's brewing inside them. Inside their chest. Before they can comprehend what's happening, their vision turns completely dark.

/

"It's been a while. Didn't we wake up around now?"

It's Undyne's voice, but it sounds weird.

"W-we can't ex-x-pect that the p-process will take as l-long as it d-did for us."

And that's Alphys', but again, she sounds off somehow. Jeez, this headache.

"They-y're a human," Alphys continues, "s-so the m-magic might take longer for t-them."

"not anymore, they ain't. the magic sure did a fair number on them."

Sans? Yeah, that's him. Or her? Yes, her. He's a girl now, right. A human girl. A human girl with human brea-

"Ow!"

Aofil presses their hand against their head as they slowly try to sit up. Their vision is still very much a blur, but they can see the shapes of their friends in front of them. Once they feel like they have their balance they let out a tired grunt.

"See!" shouts Undyne! "Told ya!" She rushes towards Aofil. "Wow! Look at you! It's like I'm looking in a mirror, kinda!"

"you're a human," Sans reminds Undyne.

"That's why I said kinda, Sans!" she shouts back, annoyed. Her tone shifts back to gleeful excitement just as quickly as she turns back to Aofil. "This is gonna be awesome!"

A sudden and cold gust of wind has Aofil lifting their head. Right in front of them is a scaly figure with yellow eyes. Undyne? No, she's standing next to the blue creature, still as a human. A black vertical iris expands and contracts while Aofil is trying to focus their eyes. Slowly the creature's details becomes clearer. Is that?

"found a mirror!" Sans smiles proudly.

Mirror?

The iris expands in horror!

A mirror!

Undyne places her hand on Aofil's shoulder, and they both freeze up. Aofil moves their head slowly to the foreign feeling on their shoulder.

Underneath the fleshy hand is a layer of scales. The same blue scales as the creature in front of them in the mirror. Their reflection.

Aofil jerks back at the sight and feel. A startled "What?" flies out of them. Sharp and irregular teeth press against their lips as their mouth trembles in confusion, further adding to it.

Undyne removes her hand and looks at it. "Huh!" she says while rubbing her fingers together. "That's really weird. Your human finger are so soft." Undyne rubs her thumb on Aofil's shoulder again, much to their dismay and discomfort. "Really soft!"

Seeing the fright in Aofil's eyes, Alphys walks up to them with a careful smile. "T-the t-transformation worked, Aofil. H-how do you feel?"

Aofil again stares at their own reflection.

Their ears are gone, replaced by large and red fins, just like Undyne normally has. They try and move them, and the fins move up and down, squeezing and contracting the membrane. The sounds around them change in both pitch and intensity with each stretch and squeeze. It's very disorienting.

Their hair has turned beaming red. Just like Undyne.

Their mouth now house a set of teeth vastly varying in sizes. Sharp as nails though, and still form a full smile when pressed together. Just like Undyne.

Their skin is light blue, and a mosaic of scales clad every inch of their body. Their form has become a bit slimmer too. Their arms have become firmer though. Aofil flexes, and with a careful hand they feel their biceps. Rough scale against rough scale feels very strange.

Good thing that their biceps feels rock solid though. Sweet! Aofil flexes their other arm as well! Freaking awesome! Ngah!

Woah. Where did that come from?

"Ha ha! Those must be mine as well!" Undyne exclaims loudly with a chuckle seeing Aofil flex. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

Yes, it feels great! It feels amazing! Aofil needs to test this. They need to test this against someone strong! A human! Yes! Great! Screw where this is coming from, Aofil wishes that it always was here!

They reach across the sofa and towards the small table housing a Mettaton shaped lamp. With a flick with the backside of their hand they push the lamp off. "Hunk o' junk," they whisper. The lamp lands on the sofa with Mettaton's face down. Just like Aofil wanted it to.

They kick the mirror away, almost knocking it over in the process, to make room for the table. They place th table down with an eager grin and throw down their elbow down on it. Their elbow burrows into the wood, but Aofil barely feels the impact through their scales.

"Undyne!" they yell! "You and me! Come on!"

Undyne looks up from the mirror she barely caught from falling over with a stunned expression on her face.

"Aofil?" wonders Toriel curiously from across the room and with a concerned hand. "Are you feeling alright?"

Aofil sees her conflicted face, but they don't care. They can't remember feeling this good before! Feeling this great! "Undyne!" they yell again! "Give me you arm, or are you afraid? You wanted this, right? So come and get it!"

Undyne doesn't answer. Her mouth hangs open and she can only blink in disbelief.

"A-Aofil?" addresses Alphys with a tap of her fingers. "Y-you m-might be experiencing some-"

Undyne puts her hand over Alphys' mouth. She stares Aofil down, having regained control over her blinking. Aofil returns the stare, and they flash a challenging smile. A similar one grows on Undyne. "I love this version of Aofil! Can we keep them like this?"

Undyne flips the mirror upright, and then walks up to Aofil while rolling up her sleeve eagerly. She throws her elbow equally hard down on the table. It complains loudly, but to no effect.

She grabs Aofil's hand. "You may look like me, but if you think I'll let the imitation beat the original you are sorely mistaken, punk! You'll be soarly mistaken as well when I'm done with you, human."

Aofil returns the grip, "Whenever you're ready," and wrings it tighter, "human! Ngah!"

Undyne squeals with glee. She returns a loud "Ngah!" back to Aofil. "So long I've waited to fight a human!" She tightens the grip between them further, and grabs hold of the edge of the table with her other hand for support. "And when I finally get to fight one they look just like me, and I like them! Ngaaaah! I! Love! This! I'm gonna enjoy the one and only second of our battle before I bury your arm into this table!"

"Count us down!" Aofil orders to the room. For a brief moment no one takes up the offer, but after a simultaneous glare from both Aofil and Undyne to Papyrus, she puts up her hand.

"FIVE!"

Aofil and Undyne return their glares towards each other.

"FOUR!"

They adjust their grips on the straining table.

"THREE!"

And on each others hand.

"TWO!"

"Ready, human?" growls Undyne. "Or should I say, 'monster'?"

"ONE!"

"Bring it!" replies Aofil.

"W-wait!"

The simultaneous sigh from Aofil and Undyne echoes through the living room. The air that was about to explode between them now peter away with embarrassment. Like expecting Aaron, but getting Jerry.

"What, Alphys?" they ask together, greatly disappointed that she killed the mood.

"Y-you need to b-bring out your souls," she reminds the two overly eager Undyne and Undyne derivative. "And also do it outd-doors," she adds nervously. "J-just in case."

Aofil and Undyne has to shake the table off their elbows before it pops off with a loud creaking noise. Aofil places it under their arm, and motions for Undyne and Alphys to go ahead. Undyne and Alphys head outside, but Toriel stops Aofil by grabbing their arm before they can follow.

"Aofil, before you go."

Aofil turns around to face her, startling at her a bit with their uneven teeth and yellow eyes.

"Aofil, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me that it's still you. We can't go through with this if it's changing you. It might be dangerous," she expresses with the deepest concern. "Seeing your form this drastically changed gives me concern about your mind as well, Aofil."

Aofil looks down on Toriel's arm. A human arm, holding a scaly arm. Her eyes are still as soft and warm though. Aofil looks at the table under their arm. They're barely feeling its weight. Their head is swimming with excitement that they're about to arm wrestle Undyne, arm wrestle a human, to be specific.

But, they're themselves a human? So why would they be this excited? Is it the shell? Is it Undyne influencing them? The voice hyping the fight up is their own, but they're not themselves right now.

Toriel notices Aofil's smile fading. "This is what I'm concerned about, Aofil. If you could hear what you said and see what you just did you'd know that this isn't you."

This isn't like Aofil's curse though, this is their friend encouraging them, but from inside. It's Undyne for crying out loud! Of course she would be like this. Aofil trusted her enough to take her inside them. She won't hurt Aofil, she'll only make them stronger. If it takes Aofil lowering their guard to feel like they could take on the entire world, and suplex it, then so be it.

A loud guffaw echoes in Aofil's head. It's their own voice, but it's Undyne making it powerful.

Aofil flashes Toriel a confident smile, "Don't worry, Tori!" and throws up a reassuring thumb towards their blooming grin. "I feel great! I'm a human, remember? Monster magic is weak compared to me! Like Alphys said, it's just a temporary shell. I'm still me inside underneath it. Whatever Undyne part there is is just temporary, and whatever part of her there is is encouraging me in ways she could never do from outside. The only thing she wants is to make me stronger, I can feel it. My soul is still the same, I feel that too."

"You sure don't sound like yourself though, Aofil. So forgive me for hesitating to believe that," Toriel retorts, still with the same worry. "You've never been like this. Don't you hear yourself?"

Aofil flicks a fin of theirs, the strange warp it makes of their hearing is a bit unsettling, but nothing they can't handle. Not with Undyne at their side, inside! "I do with these! Sure, it is a bit weird hearing you through these, and myself through these as well, but I'm doing this so that you can return to your normal forms, remember? And if I'm not myself, then I am Undyne, since it's her magic. So it shouldn't be a problem, right? Besides, since I am like this now the only thing I can do now is try to turn myself back, and me fighting Undyne now is the best shot we have according to Alphys!"

Toriel looks deep into Aofil's eyes. Strange as they are, and as not human as they are, it's still Aofil behind them. Sure, it's Undyne as well, but she's not at the helm. Aofil is. "You do have her confidence..." Toriel admits silently.

"It is still me, Toriel. Still Aofil calling all the shots. I'm still in control of my own body, and my own mind. Undyne's just ready to help me anyway from inside. She would never try and take over! I know that, and you know that too. I appreciate your concern, Toriel. Really, I do, but I'm terrified over how I am right now."

Aofil puts their hand over their chest, over their soul. "But Undyne is in here, helping me. I'm not afraid because she is giving me strength to fight it! The real Undyne won't let me come to harm too, or herself either, and you know that too. I'm two of your friends in one!"

Toriel thinks for a short while before giving her approval with a nod. "Just be careful, will you two?"

"I promise, Toriel." Aofil heads out into the hallway. "But I can't promise what my Undyne part will do! Ngahahaha!"

An uneasy sigh follows Aofil down the hallway.

"You even laugh like me! It's like the best sibling I could ever have!" Undyne puts up her hand as Aofil closes the patio door behind them. Aofil clashes it loudly with their own open palm, and Undyne pumps her fist in the air. "Fuck! Yes!"

The table legs sink into the ground as Aofil plants the table as deep as they can to make sure it stays stable through the upcoming battle. They put their hand against their chest and focus on the warm feeling inside. It's very prominent, barely being contained inside them. With little to no effort Aofil drags it out into the open.

A white and inverted heart hovers gently inside their blue hand. It's bigger than their own soul. Big enough to cover it. Must be the shell Alphys was talking about.

Alphys and Undyne stare in awe. It takes Aofil clearing their throat loudly for them to regain focus.

"Your shell theory seems to be correct, Alphys!" Aofil informs while squinting against the white light.

She nods, unsure if she should be proud or afraid.

"Where's yours, Undyne? Having trouble?" Aofil teases. They try to tap their nose, but tap only air. They run their fingers where it's supposed to be, but there's only scales. No bump or anything.

"I haven't started yet!" Undyne snaps back. She places her hand on her chest. After a small and surprised gasp she moves her hand a bit further up. "Wanna guess the color?"

"Red like your embarrassed cheeks?"

Undyne shoots Aofil a stare. "Of course it's gonna be red, but not because of that!"

But what lights up from her chest isn't red. Instead, an orange heart hovers gracefully in Undyne's hand, and she twists her lips.

"It's kinda red," Aofil comments in pity.

"Shut up!" Undyne walks over to the table with heavy steps. She slams her elbow down again into the same hole she made before. "Let's do this!"

Again they wring their hands together, and take strain on the table. The two souls hover in place, ready for battle.

"Int-tent is important," Alphys reminds. "Y-you have to t-take this seriously!"

"Oh I am," says Undyne. "Don't you worry, Alphee!"

"Me too!" replies Aofil.

"I want you to give me your all, Aofil."

Alphys clears her throat.

"Five!"

Aofil notices that the others have gathered in the kitchen and are watching through the window.

"F-four!"

Undyne makes a final adjustment to her grip. "I want you giving me my all as well! Ngah!"

"T-three!"

Aofil nods to Toriel.

"T-two!"

She nods back.

"O-one!"

The table explodes into a thousand splinter instantly as Aofil and Undyne grip it for support. Before they have time to lose their balance, a cyan cube is formed in between them. It sparks violently from the force pushing it down and from either side, but it stays intact.

"Come on!" shouts Undyne. "Humans can't be this strong!"

"Feeling sweaty?" Aofil teases.

Undyne shakes her angry head. "No! That's the problem!"

Aofil's arm starts to give in. They counter it, but it takes a toll on both their arm and stamina to do so. "What do you mean?"

"Me being a human is stronger than a human being me!" Undyne pushes down on Aofil's arm again. "That means that a human power up is better than a power up from me! I hate that! I don't allow it! Give me something to feel sweaty about, Aofil!"

Undyne leans in with her shoulder, putting more of her weight onto Aofil's arm. They try to defend against it, but it's not enough. They're losing ground!

Undyne's fuming with anger and hatred. "Aofil! Beat me! Show me that I have a chance!" She puts in more weight, and Aofil's arm is just barely above the now violently shaking cube. "Show me that I can be as strong as a human! Show me that I have a chance! I'll never forgive you otherwise, punk! I'm inside you! Let me help you!"

A crackling whip of blue lightning shoots off from the cube towards the house. It slams into the wood above the window, causing the wall to shake.

"Aofil!"

No! They can't. She's too strong. Too human! Too much for Aofil. They can't…

Something stirs inside them. Something doesn't allow for this to happen. Something's not gonna let Aofil give up!

No! Only a punk gives up!

A flash of energy surges through Aofil.

Only a punk backs down!

It grows from their chest all throughout them.

Only a punk forgets their promise!

Their grip hardens, their strength is flushed anew, richer than before.

Only a punk lets their friend down!

A burning burst rushes through their eyes.

Their soul beats as one!

Aofil eyes shoot wide open, and out of their left eye a beam is shot. A beam determined to never lose! It drags along the grass, leaving a trail of fire behind it.

"Yes!"

Aofil gains ground, inch by inch.

"Keep going, Aofil!"

Undyne again leans in with all her might, but Aofil pushes back against it!

"This!"

Undyne's arm starts to shake. It waivers!

"Is!"

And is forced to give up ground.

"Awesome!"

Her hand crashes down on the cube, causing the magic fabric to rupture. The wild and turbulent energy collapses in on itself, and with a loud shock wave that shatters the kitchen window, Undyne and Aofil are thrown away like ragdolls in a storm.

Aofil sees the shape of their soul through the sweat and tears clouding their vision. It's trembling, but only for a moment. It stops, and the white inverted heart explodes, revealing the warm red glow of their own soul. It nestles itself back into Aofil's chest, and the comforting feeling carries Aofil's consciousness away.

/

The smell of spaghetti served with apple sauce jolts Aofil awake, almost knocking over the bowl Papyrus is holding under their nose. She falls backwards with a startled "Nyeh!", but manages to hold onto the bowl.

Aofil throws up their hands in front of them.

Skin!

"here you go," offers Sans as she tilts the mirror Aofil's way.

They're back to their own form!

"not only you," Sans nods across the room after seeing Aofil sigh with immense relief. Undyne sits with a similar bowl of similar spaghetti in her lap. She waves to Aofil, and flashes a smile. A smile that despite the varying teeth in it, forms a full one.

Aofil sighs again, with just as much relief for their friend. "Looks like it worked, Alphys."

"Aofil!" shouts Undyne, excited as always. "Thank you removing that horrible nose that was always in my view!"

Aofil holds up their thumb up to and for her. "No problem."

She sets the bowl aside and walks over to Aofil. Her eye is watering, and she suppresses a sob.

Is she hurt? "How are you?" Aofil asks with a bit of worry stirring up inside them.

Undyne throws her arms around Aofil. "Thank you for showing me that I can be stronger!" She squeezes Aofil tighter. "You looked so awesome being me!"

"Imagine what you can do being you then." Aofil manages to say despite their air being squeezed out of their lungs.

Undyne's smile is covered with two thick trails of tears. "I know! It's gonna be great!" She let's a sob escape her. "Ngah," she whispers.

"No problem," Aofil repeats. "I had fun."

"Y-you sure look like you had," Alphys agrees from beside them. She makes no effort in trying to wring Undyne off Aofil though.

A large hawk from Toriel has her cowering, realizing the mistake she made. Toriel inhales a deep sigh, "Forgive me," and heaves it tiredly, "but if this is what's needed for us to return, then I am afraid that I have to insist on us finding another way."

The room goes quiet, but Toriel weathers the looks from the others on her. She collects her words, and stands firmly still. "What happened between you two, Aofil and Undyne, was dangerous. Because of our current state it took some great effort to heal you both. I feel exhausted, and I wasn't the one in battle. Saying that out loud, 'battle', and knowing that Aofil has to do one for each of the rest of us..." Toriel lowers her head. "We shouldn't be asking this of them."

"Toriel." Aofil starts carefully.

She puts up a hand to stop them. "I know that you're about to say that it is fine, and that you can handle this, Aofil. As much as I want to believe it, and as much as I do believe it, I can't in good conscience allow you to repeat this so many times. One time is already too much. You weren't yourself, however you might've thought, my dear. The very nature of this must be taking a toll on your body, and more importantly, your mind. I let you fight with Undyne because you were already transformed, but now that you're you again, I don't want you to risk more. You've already done enough, let us figure out something else."

Her words hang heavy over the group. Eyes move around to the different humans, and the one monster standing. Wondering, thinking. Aofil again opens their mouth to speak, but Toriel pleads with her eyes for them to not push themselves even further than they've already done.

"shame," shrugs Sans. "i wanted to see aofil react to me grabbing their spine."

"SANS! THAT IS NOT APPROPRIATE SKELETON BEHAVIOR!" Papyrus condemns loudly and with immense disgust. "AND YOU KNOW THAT!"

"of course i do, and that's why i want to do it."

"For as much as I want to slap you for that, Sans." Aofil breathes in through their nose. It wasn't a long time without it, but it seems that they have to get used to it again. "Keep that thought going."

Sans snaps her fingers to Aofil, "sure will, bud."

"Toriel," Aofil addresses, calmly, but firm as a rock, "I want to help. You can't live like this. I don't know exactly how this will go, but none of you will try and hurt me. This is the only way."

"This can fade away on its own," Toriel replies. "We just have to be patient."

Aofil moves their eyes to Alphys with an eyebrow raised in question. "It d-doesn't l-look like it, T-Toriel," she answers while avoiding looking at Toriel. "We s-should've s-seen something by now. C-could be that it w-will fade ov-ver a longer period of t-time, but then..."

Aofil turns back to Toriel. "I'm the only one here that can help, Toriel. Let me. I agree that I might've gone a bit overboard while being Undyne."

"Not enough if you ask me!" laughs Undyne before being silenced by a seething glare from Toriel.

"We'll take it slower with the next," Aofil continues. "I promise. If anything then to figure out a way other than fighting to break the shells. Sounds good? Do you want to be next? Perhaps then we can figure something out?"

Both Asriel and Asgore are forced to quell their laughter. To Aofil's surprise Toriel doesn't notice the women behind her shaking like earthquakes. She's deep in thought.

Is she actually considering it?

"A-actually," interrupts Alphys with a careful cough. "I s-should be next. Just to be s-sure that I c-can produce the t-transformation for the r-rest of you."

"You're not lying now, Alphys?" Toriel asks with her hand balled underneath her chin. She missed it the first time around, and almost punched herself square on her nose. The second try she managed to tuck her hand underneath her less than she's used to chin. "Do you feel like you need to be yourself for you to continue with your magic?"

Alphys nods. "Y-yes, it is what I believe."

"And are you certain of this, Aofil?"

They nod as well. "Yes, I am."

Toriel thinks for a sigh or two, and then gives her blessing. Reluctantly. "Then please continue, Alphys."

Alphys disappears down the basement again. Aofil takes the opportunity to ask Undyne to release them from her grasp. She apologizes for being enthralled, and brushes herself off before excusing herself with a not too subtle cough. Aofil asks for the bowl of spaghetti from Papyrus, realizing that they're suddenly hungry. They should eat before Alphys gets back.

The liquid Alphys brings back up is yellow this time, yet still producing the same glow as Undyne's. Aofil swirls it around. "Did you clean Undyne out before putting yourself inside?"

"It's another flask."

"Good thinking."

She would be the one knowing not to mix souls together.

Enough stalling! Aofil steadies themselves. "See you in a bit then!" and downs the liquid. Their lips curl something fierce and their cheeks feels numb. "Wow! That's really freaking sour."

Alphys taps her fingers together. "S-sorry."

"No, it's," the dizziness returns to Aofil, "It's…not..."

They fall back down onto the sofa.

/

"I k-know, b-but it doesn't h-help seeing them like this."

"like you?"

"Y-yes."

Aofil clutches their head, accidentally burrowing some claws into their skull. They grunt in pain, a very strange and ungracious grunt. Their vision is a blur, and almost completely covered by a yellow blob. They try and focus their sight, but nothing helps. "Hello?" Their voice is very nasal.

"You're awake, Aofil," Toriel smiles. Or does she? Aofil' can't really tell. "Still feeling alright?"

"I, I guess? C-can't really see." Aofil tries to fight the stammer, but one slips through despite their efforts.

A blue hand hands Aofil something. "Here!"

Aofil can't really make the shape out in Undyne's hand. "What is it?"

"G-glasses," Alphys says from across the room.

"Oh," Aofil fumbles a bit before grabbing the pair handed to them. "I see."

"no, you don't," Sans comments. "that's why you need the glasses."

Aofil wants to quip something back, but after how much they try, they can't form one in their head. They didn't really want to make one anyway, and if they did Sans would probably be mad at Aofil for making one. Better not to, better that way.

A careful pat on their shoulder from Undyne has Aofil almost jumping out of their skin. "Aofil?" Undyne asks after a second to comprehend what just happened. "You're crushing your glasses."

Aofil realizes that they've been wringing their hands, with the glasses in them. They seem to have retained their shape though, and Aofil places them on their nose.

Oh, that yellow thing was their nose. It's quite…very huge. In stark difference to how Undyne's was. That is to say, nonexisting. Compared to their now very much existing nose.

"here you go," informs Sans while bringing the mirror back to Aofil.

Seeing how they look now. The yellow scales, the big nose, the large spikes on their head and neck. It's not a pretty sight. Aofil feels their upper back slowly hunch over. Inching closer and closer to their hand. They don't want to see themselves.

They wring their tail to comfort themselves.

Wait a second!

In a rush of sudden panic, Aofil throws away their tail. It whips around, knocking Undyne off the sofa and down on the floor. Stunned, she tilts up a perplexed head with a confused expression. "What just happened?" Her baffled face turns around to meet Aofil crawling away from the thick and slithering appendage behind them, but it still following them despite their distressed effort. "Huh," Undyne looks to Alphys, "maybe we should've prepared for this?"

Alphys shrugs.

"Aofil!" Undyne shouts to snap them out of it. "It's your tail."

"M-my tail?" Aofil stutters while wide eyeing the lump of mass hanging from their behind, narrowing in thickness the further away from them it goes. "I-It's j-just my tail-l," they try to calm. As they do their tail twitches ever so slightly, and they let out a nasal squeak.

"Hey!" Undyne snaps her finger in front of Aofil's face. "Aofil! Relax! It's fine. Right, Alphys? It's just a tail."

Aofil looks over to Alphys nodding reservedly. "It-t's fine, Aofil," they repeat.

"J-just a t-tail," Aofil repeats to themselves with a nod. "J-just a tail."

Aofil's buck teeth from their overbite chaffs against the now scaly underlip. Very strange, and very uncomfortable. Only now does Aofil also notice their hands as they try and hide their face in them. Their hands are itching, eager to make something, but whatever they'd do will probably be something worthless. Best to ignore it.

"Now," Undyne extends her back and puts her fists against her hips, "time to have an Alphys fight!"

Toriel clears her throat in loud protest, "No!" before regaining her composure. "No, we shall not. No more fighting, that was the rule."

"No physical fighting," Undyne corrects, "but I was thinking that they should have a nerd off! Make the best nerd gizmo to fight for them both! We have plenty of junk in the shed for them to build something. Aofil has Alphys in them now, so they should be able to figure something out!"

Aofil looks back at their hands. Their head is screaming for them to ignore the itching to build, the itching to experiment. It must be Alphys doing both. Wanting to create, but also not wanting to. They relied on Undyne before, but now it seems that they have to suppress Alphys. At least her low confidence. She can help them build, but not talk. Gotta keep that in mind.

"B-but," Aofil collects their words, forcing themselves to focus on talking, "how will our souls come into battle?"

Undyne taps her head with a finger. "Battle of the mind! If you pour your soul into your creation it should give them enough of a bond to you so that it counts as a battle!"

"That's a good point," Aofil agrees. They instantly know why as well. "Since it's not our real souls that do battle, but the shells around them. If we think of the shel-lls as our actual magic we can inf-ffuse our creations with it, circumventing the need for intent on our part. If our creations want to destroy each other, but not us, then we should be in the clear!" Aofil puts a hand up to their mouth. They tap their lower lip with one of their claw while they think. "We have to consider the bond between our souls and our creation though, since technically we'll still be tethered to them, albeit not directly, technically. There should still be healing magic prepared just in case."

Aofil lifts their head to see everyone staring at them. They hunch over, and their tail seeks comfort in their hands. They wring it closer to them, "O-or s-somet-t-hing."

"I..." Undyne scratches her lobe. "I took the idea from an anime Alphys and I watched before...but it's good that you think it'll work…I guess."

Is this how Alphys feels all the time?

Alphys motions for the backyard. "S-shall we go? G-get this over with?"

Aofil nods, the less they have to be reminded doing something this embarrassing, the better.

Back outside Undyne leads the two hunched over, shuffling creatures to the shed. She opens it and flicks on a light switch. The shed is much larger on the inside than on the outside. Aofil wonders why.

Probably some form of dimensional storage. Better not ask though, might interrupt.

"Junk a plenty!" Undyne smiles as she sweeps her hand across the room. "Don't touch my junk though."

Both Alphys and Aofil shove their blushing faces into their hands to quell their squeals.

Undyne rolls her eye, "The junk I lift! Use Alphys' metallic junk however you like though. I'll see if I can't find a large tarp or something to cover the grass. Your eye made a bit of a fire last time, Aofil. Don't you dare go blaming it on me. Brag that it was me instead! Ngahaha!"

She leaves Alphys and Aofil alone staring down the seemingly mile long room of metallic parts and tires.

"W-where d-did you get all of t-these p-piles?" Aofil asks after an uncomfortable minute of awkward silence.

"G-Garbage D-Dump b-back in the Underground. H-had to c-clean it out for the h-human tour-r," Alphys answers before heading down to a pile she finds interesting. "D-do y-you have a-any idea w-what to m-make? Or do y-you need my help?"

"It's fine, Alp-phys," Aofil spots a very peculiar pile filled with bicycle parts and heads over to start digging.

"Oh," Alphys remembers. "I g-guess I'm already h-helping you, right?"

Aofil finds a lot of parts they can use, but they don't have any tools available. In a nearby pile they spot a gadget that can be helpful. They clumsily reach over it, using their tail to counter the weight of them almost lying sideways to reach the gadget.

They retrieve it and spin it around in their hand. Servos look clear, camera looks intact, and the connections seem to be in their right place. Just need a bit of magic to start it up. Aofil caresses the gadget, looking for the flap to reach the magic compartment. Their claw fits underneath the socket perfectly, and they flip it open. They form a small battery in their hand, and insert it into the gadget.

It sprouts a pair of pink legs and bounces on its knees waiting for instructions.

"T-tools, and s-some electronics," they order it to find. It jumps out of their hand and takes off down the room, sniffing every pile and occasionally diving into one.

Aofil notices Alphys staring at them. They cower from it."S-sorry, I should've ask-ked to b-borrow it."

Alphys tries to smile warmly to calm them down, but it just comes out as forced. "It's f-fine. C-can I use it after y-you?"

"S-sure…" Aofil returns to their tinkering with sweat pouring out of their hands. They have to dry them off on their shirt, otherwise they can't get a grip on anything.

The gadget returns to Aofil and pours out an equally large pile with electronics and tools next to the one Aofil is using. Aofil tells it to head over to Alphys, and it happily does so. The dangers of using a dimensional box inside another floods through Aofil's mind, but that one they manage to suppress.

They have another thought occupying their mind, and that's how close the robot they're building is gonna be to the one Mew Mew used in the second season when she visited her scientist friend. The ensuing arc really brought it to a new height in terms of narrative structure and overall writing quality. It was a much better one than in the first season, that's for sure.

Anyone thinking that season one is better must be absolute trash, just like season one is compared to season two.

Aofil makes a pair of noise canceling earmuffs and some modifications to their glasses so that they can work more efficiently before starting their project. They summon a diagram of Mew Mew's robot on their glasses' lenses and studies it thoroughly. Should be enough parts in their pile to make a replica that's almost their size. Their human size that is… Aofil looks down at their hands, their yellow arms, but their large muzzle is covering everything that's below them. They sigh, and remind themselves that they're doing this for their friends.

Using a mix of gas and magic they weld the pieces they've found into the desired shape. They fit and magically program the electronics inside the robot. Connecting it to the shell is easy, they just need to sync their own aura to the receptors present on the personality matrix chip. Just needs a small wireless receptor, that's all. With that in place, the robot should now draw power from the shell around Aofil's soul instead of an inserted battery.

Aofil waves their hand, and the robot does so as well.

Perfect.

Some quick splashes of color from another gizmo that Aofil finds gives their robot the same color scheme from Mew Mew season two. Pink and yellow. They add some more bells and whistles to their robot, because why not?

Now all that is left to do is to add the flux capacitor. It doesn't do anything, because as the name suggests, it just stores light, but it looks cool. Aofil places it on the chest of their robot. Their robot looks down and gives Aofil an approving thumb. They return it.

Satisfied with their creation, Aofil orders, through the shell around their soul, for the robot to fold itself inside a nearby dimensional box. It does so with ease. Aofil picks the box up, and turns around to say to Alphys that they're done.

"I'm done."

"I'm done."

They both notice that the other one is done, and at the exact same time.

"Um...good."

"Um...good."

There's a brief pause while they both clutch the boxes they're carrying.

"Sh-hall we?"

"Sh-hall we?"

They both offer the others to go first.

"Af-fter you."

"Af-fter you."

And both freeze in place while staring at each other. Why isn't the other one walking? They can't go first! That would be too embarrassing!

"Undyne!"

"Undyne!"

"Help!"

"Help!"

She kicks in the door with a spear in hand, "What?" and scans around for any danger, but finds only Alphys and Aofil hunched over with their red faces hidden behind their shaking boxes. Undyne can't help but chuckle. "This is freaking amazing," and she drags both of them outside by their collars. "It's like I'm seeing double."

She's so cool…

She's so cool…

A large tarp covers half of the backyard. Undyne places Aofil on one end, and Alphys at the other. She takes position behind a table flipped on its side and ducks beneath it. Only her eye is sticking up from behind it. "Let's go nerds! Don't keep us waiting!"

The audience of Undyne behind the table, and the rest behind the kitchen window, is a bit more than Aofil would've wanted, but it's too l-late for th-hat now, isn't it-t?

They swallow hard and place down their box. It opens with a loud creak, and Aofil winces hard. They take out their creation and puts in on the tarp. Alphys does the same with hers.

"Alright nerds!" Undyne yells with her hand stretched high in the air. "I'm counting down, and then I want to see the nerdiest battle ever! Ready!"

Aofil wishes it was a question.

"One!"

What?

"Go!"

Aofil's robot reacts to them jerking back in confusion, and begins to unfold itself. It straightens its back as the theme song for Mew Mew season two blares from its speakers.

Oh no! Aofil forgot that they put it there!

The intro from Mew Mew season one catches their ears, and they look up from the palms of their hands to see Alphys doing the same.

Hers is the robot from season one!

"Alphys? A-are you serious?" Aofil's nasal laugh echoes as the theme songs finish playing. They cover up their mouth quickly to stop themselves from poisoning their own ears further.

Their robot starts to roll its shoulder.

"W-why does your look like it's from season trash?" Alphys asks with her hand outstretched in utter disgust! "You literally made the reason the quality plummeted!"

Alphys' robot cracks its pink knuckles while stretching its neck menacingly.

Oh, she's so wrong she doesn't even know! "I don't think I can take any critique serious from someone that thinks that season one is in anyway better than two," Aofil harks back with their voice cracking.

Aofil's robot crosses its also pink arms together. Its pose stands intimidating.

A silent and excited squeal emanates from Undyne, but the two debaters are too heated in their argument to notice.

"Ha!" Alphys scoffs with an ungraceful snort. "It took a series about friendship and turned it into a series about stupid people doing stupid decisions. The stupidest was the decision to make a second season."

The season one design shifts its weight into a combat ready position. One arm forward, and one covering its chin. It's ready for battle!

"The second season showed a more complex and tragic Mew Mew!" Aofil needs to catch their breath. "Where she has to learn more about her powers and how it impacts the people around her!"

The season two design collects its center. Slowly it focuses its arms into position, ready to take on whatever foe that might oppose it.

"It introduced an unnecessary plot and turned the joy of the first season into a mess of faux drama."

What came before beckons for what came after to attack.

"It introduced actual character development! Actual arcs for Mew Mew!"

Aofil's robot gladly accepts the invite, and sprints towards Alphys' robot.

"Here we go!" cheers Undyne! "Robot violence! Ngah!"

Alphys and Aofil stare at each other, mortified over what's about to happen. This wasn't the plan! They both scramble for their souls to try and stop what's about to happen. The metallic clanking of Aofil's robot running, and the metallic creaking of Alphys' robot preparing for the impact rings loud and distracting, making Alphys and Aofil lose focus. It's only when Aofil's robot is within arm's reach that they finally manage to bring out their souls.

Aofil finally gets a grip on their white and inverted heart. "S-stop!" they command.

Alphys finally gets a grip on their purple heart. "St-top!" she commands.

But they're both too late. Aofil's robot leans back with their arm, and throws it against Alphys' robot. It does the same, and the two metallic and grossly pink hands smash into each other with incredible force.

The impact pushes Aofil and Alphys back. In their hands their souls start to violently tremble, as well as their creations. Their souls snap, and their robot fall down limp into a thousand pieces raining down on the tarp, just before their shells explode in their hands.

Aofil again finds themselves lying on the moist grass staring at the night sky with fading vision. Their red soul again settles inside them once again.

"That was awesome!" Aofil hears Undyne cheer with glee before their vision fades completely.

/

A warm hand caressing Aofil's hair greets them when they regain consciousness. They open their tired eyes to...Toriel? Yes, Toriel, sitting next to them. She helps them sit up straight, and hands Aofil a cup of steaming tea. The Golden Flower taste warms and chases away the tired feeling. Aofil spends a minute or so just enjoying the taste. They don't feel that exhausted from their excursion with Alphys, so might as well ask who's next.

"So," Aofil lifts the cup up for another sip, "who's next?"

"You don't want to rest up a bit more?" Toriel asks softly.

"Alphys has to make the potion, right? I'll be done with the tea when she returns with it."

"A-actually," interrupts Alphys. Aofil smiles when they see her yellow muzzle just next to them, "I've al-lready prepared the next."

"It's me," Toriel spoils. Aofil had a small hope that it would be a surprise, but thinking about it now, it would probably be a terrible idea. "So that we can figure out a better way to solve this situation rather than resorting to such unnecessary violence."

Undyne leans in as subtly as she can, that is to say very little. "If even two Alphys couldn't figure something out..."

Toriel shoots her a look, and Undyne's forced to duck and cover not to die from it.

"You think I can mix the tea with the potion, Alphys?" Aofil asks to lighten the mood.

The sudden realization that it might create something akin to Flowey has them backpedaling that statement immediately.

"I'm just kidding!" they shout before Alphys, or anyone else for that matter, can themselves realize what Aofil asked. "Just let me finish this and then I can do Toriel!"

The loud slurp Aofil accidentally produces in their haste is even louder through the awkward silence present. Aofil's gonna be out of it in a while though, so it's just something they have to weather for a short while.

While breathing out the last fumes of the Golden Flower tea Aofil motions for Alphys and the flask. It clashes horribly with the sweet and sour taste lingering behind from the Golden Flower, but dizziness quickly overtakes Aofil again, and shortly after Toriel eases their body down on the sofa.

"See me soon," she chuckles.

Aofil smiles just before falling asleep.

/

"You think Aofil's gonna get used to this?"

Something heavy hangs from Aofil's head. Two heavy things even. They run their hand up their cheek. Fur, definitely fur. Claws too. Their hand reaches the heavy and warm weight on the side of their head, and runs underneath it until it stops. They lift up their hand, and the weight smacks against their cheek with an audible clash.

"your ear, if you were wondering."

Aofil opens their eyes slowly. "Yeah, I figured as much," they say with a slightly deeper voice. "Thanks for stating the obvious though, Sans. Really helpful."

And yes, they're definitely a goat now. Or a Boss Monster, to be technical, but the face staring back at them in the mirror Sans brought back to them is ringing the word 'goat' in their head. Two small horns on top of their skull through their hair, two floppy ears on either side, a single long muzzle that's not covering as much as Alphys' did, but still a fair amount. All clad in bright white fur.

"so does this make aofil your aunt, asriel?" Sans wonders with just the slightest hint of genuine curiosity.

Asriel sends a stare that's more determined than the beam Aofil shot out of their eye two transformations ago. The notion doesn't sound weird in Aofil's head, so maybe Toriel was right about this taking a toll on them.

Wait a minute… Aofil looks back at the mirror. They look down as they don't believe what the mirror is showing, "What happened to my clothes? They feel different."

"During your transformation your clothes did kinda," Toriel nods shortly to a pile of torn fabric on the table next to Aofil.

"Explode!" Undyne finishes right in Aofil's ear. Well, not technically in their ear since they now have it covered by a large and swaying weight of fur and flesh. Or is it magic? Either way, Undyne yelled close enough that it hurt. Aofil waves her away with their hand while pressing against their ear with their other.

"So where did you get these?" Aofil asks wide eyed. "Did you go to my house?" Why would they risk it?

"No, actually," Toriel corrects. "Asriel had some of his own clothes here that look similar. We thought it might be better if you woke up in something. Something familiar, too."

"she," Sans is quick to correct.

"Was a guy when he forgot it," Undyne corrects back.

Sans lets her have that one. "fair enough."

Toriel meditates away the frustration of Sans interrupting her for a second or so before continuing, "As I was saying, Asriel had some of his clothes here that he left behind during a training session with Undyne. Why it never crossed Undyne's mind to actually bring back them to Asriel is something we'll worry about another time."

Undyne is suddenly looking very stiff in fear.

The clothes don't fit Aofil exactly, but it's a good enough of a fit. The fabric is soft and light like silk, but it doesn't feel like it. Must be magical fabric.

"Can you please stop that?" Asriel mumbles loudly. "It's bad enough seeing you wear it like you are now, could you at least stop touching it?"

Aofil returns his request with a scoff and a roll of their eyes. "Is it because I look better in them than you do?"

The sound of multiple jaws hitting the floor doesn't concern Aofil. They're doing this as a favor for them, the least Asriel could do is stop being such a crybaby.

Asriel doesn't know what to do, or how to answer, or how to react at all. He looks to Toriel for help, and she clears her throat. "Aofil?"

They don't look at her while answering. "Hm?" is the only thing they give her.

"How are you?"

"What?" Aofil just briefly meets Toriel's eyes before returning to their clothes. "What is it?"

"Asriel asked you to stop."

And? You can't get everything in the world. Aofil shrugs their shoulders. "I heard him. Sorry, her. I heard her loud and clear."

A chortle desperately suppressed catches everyone's attention, even Aofil. Asgore presses her hand against her mouth. "Sorry!" She quells another chortle clumsily. "Sorry," she follows up with again.

Toriel crosses her arms together so fast her arms risks catching fire from the friction, even without the kindle that would be her fur. She stares at Asgore with a disapproving look. "Is anything funny, Asgore?" she mutters angrily.

"Apparently," Aofil adds with a snarky tilt of their head.

"Don't you recognize yourself, Toriel?" Asgore asks through her knuckles.

"What do you mean by that? Recognize myself? That's not me. I've never..." Toriel's arms fall down at her sides and she turns mortified to Aofil leaning back in the sofa with one leg crossed perpendicular over the other, and one arm outstretched over the backrest of the sofa.

They raise a perplexed and annoyed hand at Toriel's baffled look. "What? You jealous too?"

Toriel's face sinks, in stark contrast to Asgore's increasingly difficult to hide giggle that's slowly having her heave up and down while still keeping her hand pushed desperately against her mouth.

"What's so funny?" Aofil's getting a bit impatient with Asgore's laughing. "You think I'm a joke or something? I'm your wife now, need I remind? Are you laughing at your own wife? Or am I not good enough?"

"No, it's not you," Toriel sighs deeply.

Aofil turns to her with a conflicted and questioning expression. "What do you mean? Not me?" It soon becomes clear to them. Very clear. They chuckle, which turns into a laugh, which turns into an all out guffaw,."Oh...my god!" Aofil pats their chest excitingly while gasping for air. "This is you!"

Toriel pinches the bridge of her nose tiredly. "Aofil, please. Try and fight it. It's already enough having been reminded."

"Try and fight you? When you're acting like this?" The sofa complains silently as Aofil leans forward on their knuckles. They chuckle again. "Wow, I never knew, Toriel. Why didn't you tell me? Under all that queen is an actual personality."

She doesn't take kindly to that, not at all. She's determined to keep her composure though, and fights to ignore Aofil's words. She's definitely shaken by the words though, Aofil can very clearly see that. "I'm afraid I have to insist on you fighting it, Aofil. Please, I beg you. You promised me we'd talk about finding another way for this."

"Let's see what more I have to say. Something's bound to pop up with this present company of ours." Aofil looks around the room to try and trigger themselves to say something. They lock eye with the largest creature in the room. "Asgore!" Aofil feels a cocky smirk form. "Is this how Toriel was when you met her?" Aofil hears their own words, and their smirk grows bigger. "Is it really?"

Toriel looks pleadingly at Asgore, but it's too late. Aofil bends over in a fit of laughter. It takes a while for them to run out of steam, and when they eventually do Aofil wipes away tears from their eyes. "Wow, why am I laughing this much? Why is this so damn hilarious?"

"It isn't," Toriel growls.

"Yes, it is," Aofil stifles another wave of giggling, "and the best part is, it's you that finds it funny! Toriel, why do you find yourself funny? Is this the monster behind the queen? The Toriel that I've seen peeks of after three glasses of wine? You got some around, Undyne? Alphys? If I'm like this when I'm sober I can't wait to get tipsy!"

Toriel bites her lips closed, while stopping Undyne in her step with a quick leer. Undyne's gonna regret taking that one step towards the kitchen.

"Is that so, Toriel?" Aofil nods to themselves, and throws up a finger. "How about this? I'm gonna be nice and give you the chance to explain from your mouth instead of mine, Toriel." Aofil settles back into leaning back on the sofa with one leg perpendicular over the other. Their foot bounces impatiently as Aofil waits just as impatiently for Toriel to make her decision.

She meets Aofil's raised eyebrow and cocked head with a deadly glare.

"You're trying to stare yourself down, Toriel," Aofil reminds with a flick of their index finger. "Ain't gonna work. If you want I can bring the mirror in between us while I deduce your story myself. How about the first time you wore the crown? Must've ruined your image, right? The rebel turned domesticated aristocrat? See! I'm just letting my mouth run and all sorts of deliciousness flow like the Waterfall. Last chance, Toriel, because I can feel my tongue itching."

"Aofil, you're strong enough to break free from me. You managed with Undyne, I know that you can. You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Perhaps I am?" Aofil shrugs. "Fact still remains that I'm a mix between me and you, so it's at least half of you is enjoying this. Besides, if we want to find a way for our shells to come to blows without physically coming to blow then I need to know all about you so that we together can find a way."

Toriel grumbles under her breath.

"As you can clearly hear I got your wit as well, Toriel. What a bargain, right? The quick wit, the unshackled confidence. I feel like I've missed this. That must mean that you have been missing this, right? Otherwise I wouldn't feel nostalgic over this as I am right now. Is there a part of you still wanting to not be a queen? Man, just hear me ramble!" Aofil scratches the side of their muzzle with a claw. "You're the only one that can stop yourself, Toriel. So, pray tell about when you acted like this."

"Come now, dear," says Asgore gently, "you shouldn't be ashamed of your past. It was why I fell in love with you to begin with."

Aofil lets out a long whistle. "Good stuff. You're lucky you ain't your useful self right now, Asgore. Even with your voice only being tangentially close to your normal one it made my heart skip a beat. I'm guessing that if you still had that gorgeous golden, and flowing beard, I would be all over you."

Toriel ignores Aofil to the best of her abilities. "Hearing you say that with that voice and in that form isn't doing any favors, Asgore."

Asgore shrugs, nothing she can do about it, really.

"But your words are true." Toriel admits as she walks over to the nearest empty chair where she sits down with her hands on her knees. She steadies her breath, and faces Aofil, who bounce their eyebrows in excitement. After taking in and processing the sight she begins.

"I wasn't always the queen, so I didn't always act like one."

Toriel exhales and stands up again.

Aofil's arms fly out on either side as Toriel stands silent with her arm gently crossed over her legs. "And?" they ask, perplexed.

"No 'and', Aofil. I am finished."

This is a joke! "This is a joke?" It has to be! "It has to be!" Is she serious? "Are you serious?"

Toriel nods. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because," Aofil stands up too, "I can feel that you're not done. I feel that you're lying, Toriel. Please sit down and finish your story."

"Like I said, I'm finished. Now it's your time to uphold your side of the bargain."

Aofil looks to the others for any sort of help. "Am I the only one that wants to hear the rest of it?" but they all stay silent, probably from the sweeping glare Toriel shoots them all. "I am? Come on, you gotta be kidding me."

Toriel suppresses a snicker and crosses her arms over her chest. "Things not going according to your plan? If there's anything more I'm willing to give away is that I know that this is gonna press your buttons. I'm standing up to you, Aofil. How does it feel?"

Now she's just rubbing salt into it. Pompous Boss Monster! Thinks she's so great just because she's the Queen. Aofil scoffs to the side and shakes their head. "Apparently not since I have the Queen vetoing me against my plans. Pulling the rug out from underneath me, and then telling me to do it her way. Wow!" Aofil takes a step closer with their hands upraised, waving back and forth just like Toriel waved away them. "How about I give you a taste of that yourself, huh? How about I just don't help you?"

Toriel furrows and simultaneously raises her brow. "And stay like you are now? You don't want to go back to being human, Aofil?"

Aofil steps closer, almost putting their muzzle up to Toriel's face. "What if I do? What if I stay like the Toriel you don't want to remember? Maybe I'll enjoy being a constant splinter under your nail. You'll know what that means now that you have nails of your own!" Aofil wiggles their fingers. "Because normally you have these."

Toriel nods warmly, "That is all well and good, Aofil," and puts her hand on their shoulder. "I have to admit that you've brought up some things that I'd rather be buried, but I won't hold it against you when you wake up. This will all be water under the bridge once you open your humans eyes again, you have my word."

"What are you-" Aofil looks down. The white glow from their inverted heart forces them to squint. Their soul is exposed! Toriel lifts away the arm still crossed over her chest, exposing the teal color of her own shell.

Toriel gives Aofil a gentle smile, "See you in a bit, Aofil," before flicking her finger on Aofil's shell. It cracks, and shatters. The force of it flings pieces that pierce Toriel's light blue heart.

They both stumble down on the ground. Asgore and Asriel rushing to catch Toriel, while Undyne and Alphys rushes to catch Aofil.

"Phew!" Undyne wipes her forehead. "She really got you there, Aofil."

Her flashy smiles fades away as the darkness consumes Aofil's vision.

/

A warm and fuzzy hand on Aofil's forehand wakes them up. They open their eyes and meet Toriel's white muzzle smiling back at them. The sofa complains loudly when she stands up. Aofil accepts her outstretched hand and she helps them to sit up. Aofil's clothing is now way too big for them. Like a small tent, almost.

"You feeling well, Aofil?"

Aofil feels that their mouth is a bit dry. "I'm somewhat thirsty, but yes, I'm fine."

"I'll get you some water, Aofil," Alphys offers, which Aofil gladly accepts. She waddles away to the kitchen.

"Aofil," Toriel addresses with a bit of lingering concern, "about what was said before."

"Yeah?" Aofil hopes that what they tried to push didn't harbor a grudge for Toriel.

"Forgive me."

What?

Toriel puts a warming and forgiving hand on Aofil's shoulder. "I should've warned you before that such feelings could've spawned once you were under the influence of me. It is true that I once had those feelings and thoughts myself. I took a chance on the transformation bringing more what I am now than what I was before. Thankfully, you managed to hold back the worst of me, and for that I am grateful. We all have parts of our lives that we wish not to be brought into light, and I don't know if I could've faced myself at my fullest back before. Thank you for being strong, Aofil."

Did they really hold back though? Aofil certainly didn't feel like they were holding back. If anything they were letting off the floodgates. Maybe she's downplaying it for her own sake, and if so, it might be best just to play along.

"You certainly were imposing, Toriel. Both you Toriel, and me Toriel."

"I'm not thrilled about what happened, but it wasn't you fault, Aofil." Toriel takes a small and respectful bow. "Thank you for your help."

Alphys returns from the kitchen and hands Aofil a glass of water. "No problem, Toriel. It was worth it to return you to your ever so beautiful self," Aofil answers before taking a refreshing mouthful of cold liquid. It really hit the spot.

"Oh you," Toriel giggles behind her hand.

An impressed and eager whistle flows from Sans. "just as flirty as frisk, and that's not even with asgore's soul. maybe aofil and asgore should fight to win toriel's heart? heh. then we'll see who's the most deserving to be monster king now that we only have a monster queen available at the moment."

"A MONSTER KING NEEDS A MONSTER GUARD THOUGH," Papyrus reminds to the room with a finger raised high and mighty. "AND SINCE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM NOT A MONSTER AT THIS PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME, I SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TO OFFER MY SERVICE TO THE NEXT MONSTER KING! THEREFORE, I SHOULD BE NEXT!"

Undyne raises a slightly perplexed hand over her incredibly perplexed head.

"YES, UNDYNE, LEADER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

"Exactly, Papyrus," Undyne nods. "I'm the fricking leader, and I'm a monster now."

"EXACTLY, UNDYNE! YOU'RE NOT A GUARD, YOU'RE THE LEADER OF THE GUARD"

Undyne's too stunned by confusion, and can't provide an answer. Before she has time to blink away her dazed and furrowed brow Papyrus snatches Alphys up and heads with the longest stride she can muster down into the basement.

Undyne unfreezes from her thinking only when she catches whiff of the flask of Papyrus that Alphys hands across her field of vision. "What's that?" she points.

"It's Papyrus."

Aofil takes the flask out of Alphys' hand.

"It smells like his cooking," Undyne is quick to comment.

Aofil finishes the flask with three deep gulps. "Oh yeah," they cough, "it really does."

"ONLY THE TASTIEST FOR MY FRIEND," Papyrus poses heroineically. "WHO WILL SOON BECOME ME!"

"you're about to be boned, aofil."

Sans' joke is the last Aofil fully comprehends before the familiar dizziness takes them over.

Off to a horrible start.

/

Oh! God! This headache!

"Um."

And again Aofil's hearing is distorted. Alphys sounds really strange.

"M-maybe we should move t-the mirror?"

And Aofil's view is again really distorted. Just need a second or so to let it focus.

"B-because you know, it's a b-bit d-different for us than it m-might be them."

Aofil's head feels really cold. Their entire body feels cold. It's not unpleasant though, just uncomfortable Hopefully it'll go away as well.

"THAT MAY BE SO, MY YELLOW AND SMART MONSTER FRIEND!"

"Really don't have to emphasize the monster part, Papyrus," huffs Undyne.

And Aofil's joints feel really, really stiff.

"THAT MAY BE SO, MY BLUE AND STRONG MONSTER FRIEND, BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM NOT A MONSTER RIGHT NOW! I AM HUMAN!"

"Not for long though, hopefully."

"I'm s-serious," Alphys steps in between Undyne and Papyrus, "skel-letons aren't the same t-to humans as they are t-to monsters."

Skeletons? Aofil's eyes shoot wide open. They don't feel anything happening on their face though. No muscles moving, no skin stretching, no nothing!

"Fuck! Shit!" Aofil flies up the wall behind them as they catch their own reflection. "What the hell!"

Their clothes are sucked in by the quick movement. Sucked in inside Aofil. They look down, seeing the outline of their rib cage through the fabric of their clothes. Their clothes are tucked inside. Tucked inside nothing! There's nothing for it to be tucked inside of, yet it is!

"No! What!"

Their robe is inside them, yet there's no inside on Aofil for it to be inside of! The fabric caresses every nook and cranny of their ribs as well, wrapping it tightly. The cold bones are being comforted by the warm fabric, but Aofil's anything but comforted! Everything's wrong, everything's gone! They're overwhelmed by a chilled sinking feeling that radiates out from below their rib cage. Their stomach would be in turmoil if they still had one!

"SEE!" Papyrus present Aofil proudly to the rest of the room. "THEY'RE FINE!"

Ignoring Papyrus' judgment, Toriel stands up carefully from her chair, and walks slowly to Aofil, "Aofil?" she asks calmly. "I know that this might feel strange to you." She does Aofil a favor by kicking the mirror so that it spins around, turning Aofil's reflection away. "I promise you that you'll be fine though. Look at me."

"how can they without eyeballs?" Sans wonders loudly.

Toriel looks over to Undyne, who nods quickly. She picks Sans up, and carries her outside the room.

"Thank you," Toriel wishes to Undyne who returns it with a thumbs up over her shoulder. With that taken care of Toriel returns to Aofil. She offers her hand. "Yours will look like Papyrus' and Sans', keep that in mind."

"how can they with a hollow skull?" comes from the kitchen. The sound of the patio door opening and closing follows shortly after.

Aofil looks over to their side, at their arm. White bone. No skin, no scales, no nothing. Just bones. They suppress a startled yell, and takes Toriel's hand. Hers is warm, theirs is cold. Hers is fuzzy, theirs is hard.

"I really don't like this," Aofil whimpers on the way down from the wall and back into the sofa. They feel the cushions go up through their hip bones, "Really don't!" and fold through their thigh bones, "Really! Fucking! Don't!"

"just gotta get your backbone straight. allow me."

Warm fingers wrap around Aofil's spine, and they freeze mid horrified gasp.

"the shell sure is good at imitating nothing. it actually feels like you don't have anything besides your skeleton, aof. and wow, look at you so pale."

The patio door slams open and thunderous footsteps close in from the kitchen. A furious Undyne beelines straight to Sans and pulls her off Aofil. The sharp tug on the middle of their spine forces a stunned whimper out of Aofil.

"don't worry, aofil will be just spine."

The patio door slams shut again after another few seconds of more thundering footsteps with Undyne carrying Sans yet again.

It takes a minute or so before Aofil starts moving again, and then just barely. "I..." they stop and clack their teeth together. Another minute passes as they again try and work up enough courage to function as they are now. "Do you have any ideas, Pap? Because the sooner I can get out of this form, the better."

Papyrus looks a bit sad at the notion, yet she stands tall. "AS MY MONSTER FRIEND WISHES!" She bends over, prompting everyone in the room to look away from her, and reaches under the sofa. "I, THE GREAT HUMAN PAPYRUS, CHALLENGE YOU, THE MONSTER AOFIL, TO A BATTLE OF THE MINDS! A BATTLE OF WITS, CUNNING, AND THE CIRCLING OF WORDS! NYEHEHEH!"

She emerges back up straight with a flat cardboard box brandishing a smiling ice cube on the cover. With a standing and proud pose she points the box towards Aofil. "I CHALLENGE YOU, MONSTER AOFIL, AS THE GREAT HUMAN PAPYRUS, TO JUNIOR JUMBLE!"

Somehow her cape starts fluttering, despite no wind. Not from Sans' shortcut either. Strange…

Papyrus quickly fetches a table and arranges it next to Aofil. She then sits down on the opposite side of the sofa, and picks up her piece of the puzzle while sliding over Aofil's.

"MAY THE BEST JUMBLER WIN! NYEH NYEH NYEH!

Aofil instantly spots all the words and circle them. Papyrus doesn't notice though, she's too busy finding just one. She looks very focused, almost too focused. Aofil decides to give her a reassuring pat on the back. "I believe in you, Papyrus!"

No answer. Hm, Aofil might not have been supportive enough. Better pose for Papyrus, that should raise her mood.

Aofil poses grandiosely, with their hands against their hips and their rib cage pouted! "Listen to me, my dear Papyrus! I, the grand Aofil, will help you however I can in this trial you've bestowed on us! For it is so friends act! It is so I will do, for I, the grand Aofil, have many friends, and thus I know what I need to do to uphold their spirits to the highest level!"

"THANK YOU, AOFIL!" Papyrus nods, but keeps her head down into the Junior Jumble. "BUT IT IS FINE! I, THE GREAT HUMAN PAPYRUS, WILL DEFEAT THIS PUZZLE! I WILL DO IT TO SAVE MY FRIEND FROM BEING A MONSTER, AND ME FROM BEING A HUMAN!"

There's still some hesitation present in Papyrus' voice, Aofil better tone it up even more! "Rest assured, dear human, that I, the grand Aofil, will dedicate my fullest attention to whenever you need help! Fame, power, popularity, nice cream in literal spades, all of this will I help you obtain!"

Papyrus thinks she finds a word, but it wasn't compatible with the ones in the answer sheet. "I...I CAN OBTAIN THAT MYSELF!"

"But I can help you get it faster!"

"I'M SUPPOSED TO HELP YOU, AOFIL!" Papyrus scrambles up to pose next to Aofil. "IT IS BECAUSE OF ME THAT WE WILL COME BACK TO OUR ORIGINAL FORMS! I CAN'T HELP YOU IF YOU'RE HELPING ME! I WILL SOLVE THIS PUZZLE ALL ON MY OWN, AND OUR SHELLS WILL THEN SHATTER AS OUR BATTLE CONCLUDES!"

She isn't making any progress on the puzzle though. Like, nothing at all. Not a single word is ringed in. Not a single correct word, that is. Papyrus must be very much in need of help if she's this stubborn to not have it. Aofil sits down next to her.

"NO!"

What?

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM GOING TO HELP YOU, AOFIL! THAT IS WHAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO! I HELP MY FRIENDS!"

A green light illuminates the space between Aofil and Papyrus. She swings her head around. "I AM THE ONE THAT HELPS! THIS PUZZLE IS THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN ME HELPING YOU, AND I WILL DEFEAT IT! I WILL HELP YOU OVERCOME BEING A HANDSOME SKELETON, AOFIL!"

Papyrus' jaw drops to the floor in sudden realization. Her expression freezes into stone. Slowly she turns her head back to the puzzle in front of her. She places her hand on it, and with a flick of her wrist she spins it around. She fumbles for her pen while keeping her eyes locked on the paper, narrowed by the green light right under her chin. When she finally finds the pen she places it on the paper. Her dropped jaw turns into a determined smile, and it grows as the circle she draws grows.

The letter 'N' is encompassed, brightening her eyes.

The letter 'O' is encompassed, further stretching her cheeks.

The letter 'T' is encompassed, and Aofil leans closer.

The letter 'E' is encompassed, and Papyrus holds her breath.

The letter 'L' is encompassed, and her face turns red.

Another 'E' is encompassed, and Aofil reminds Papyrus that she need to breathe.

The letter 'K' is encompassed, and Papyrus thanks Aofil for reminding her how not to die.

And finally.

'S'

Papyrus flies up on her feet. She throws herself around Aofil, squeezing them tightly, "I TOLD YOU I WOULD HELP!"

Her soul and chest presses against Aofil's rib cage. They feel it bend inwards, inwards towards nothing.

A loud crack echoes throughout the room. Papyrus releases Aofil, and they both stare down. Their shells crumbles a second later, revealing their true colors, their true souls.

"i've heard of a heart to heart, but this is ridiculous," quips Sans from across the room.

"Sans!"

"SANS!"

The two of them collapse from the gust flowing through the room.

/

Aofil flies up as soon as they feel like they have some control back. They pat themselves all over, and heaves an enormously relieved sigh. Fur they can manage, scales they can manage, because those are just variations of skin. Not having anything though? The absolute worst!

Oh...wait...they still have Sans to do.

Shit!

Alphys hands Aofil a glass. "Some more water?"

They take it with a nod, "Thanks," but to their horror they realize that the feeling of swallowing is foreign for the moment. They feel the water touch and flush all the way down into their stomach where it splashes. It makes them shudder.

God dammit.

"So who's next?" wonders Undyne while stretching her arms in the air. "It's getting well into tomorrow."

"We should not hasten Aofil though. Let them regain their strength before continuing," Toriel reminds with a thoughtful hand. "That being said, I do want to get this over with myself."

Asriel throws a quick look, but Toriel doesn't see it.

"I SHALL MAKE MY WORLD FAMOUS INFAMOUS SPAGHETTI!" announces Papyrus, in all his skeleton splendid and posing. "IT'LL HELP YOU, HUMAN AOFIL, TO RECONSTITUTE YOURSELF FOR THESE LAST BATTLES!"

Papyrus takes off into the kitchen.

"Yeah, just go ahead and use it again without asking, don't mind asking me or Alphys or anything!" Undyne shouts after him. "Again!" she punctuates even harder.

"THANK YOU!" Papyrus replies from the kitchen.

An audible slap and grumble from Undyne as she shakes her head with a tired hand on her forehead can't help but summon a smile on Aofil.

They raise their hand. "Could I make a request? Can Asgore be next? I'm not really comfortable with becoming a skeleton again so quickly."

Sans shrugs, "sure," and takes a hold of the zipper on her hoodie, "i can keep myself busy."

Asogre stands up and motions for Alphys to take lead to the basement.

Another hand is raised. "Could I follow?"

Asgore stops and looks to Asriel. "To take the sample?"

Both of them have to again let the other's voice sink in and be processed. Once Asriel feels she's somewhat comfortable she nods. "Yeah."

Asgore tilts her head down to Alphys. "S-sure? I don't s-see why not?" she answers after some quick pondering.

The room turns a bit darker as the two fair skinned and golden haired women leave for the basement.

"Aofil," Toriel says after giving Asgore and Asriel enough time to be out of earshot distance, "once you're Asgore, and if it happens, could you try and not court me?"

The questions catches everyone still left in the living room's full attention. Toriel isn't fazed by it though, and she prepares to continue her request. "For his sake."

Aofil shrugs. "I can try? Don't know how much he'll take hold over me though. So I can't guarantee anything."

"Just keep it in mind," Toriel smiles warmly. "Alright? I won't be upset with you if you don't."

"Depends on what you say," Undyne nudges Aofil with a wink. "Maybe Toriel will want to have you stay as Asgore."

To Aofil's surprise Toriel chuckles at Undyne's comment. She waves it away with a playful wink. "I can't make any guarantees myself."

"isn't this the toriel you said you wanted to hide?"

Toriel quells her chuckle quickly. "She's imposing," Toriel throws out as an excuse, "like Aofil said."

While zipping her hoodie up and down, Sans taps her chin in thought. "beforiel?"

Which summons another chuckle from Toriel that she desperately tries to hide.

The sound of wood loudly creaking emanates from the stairway after a coupe of minutes. A bit longer than the others before. Asgore's immense and calming smile silences all, if any, worries as he presents the flask to Aofil.

Asriel sits back down again in the sofa. She leans on her knuckles, like she's deep in thought. Maybe she's afraid of needles, or whatever Alphys is using?

Anyway, bottoms up!

"Sweet," Aofil smacks their tongue at the taste, "very sweet."

They lay down on the sofa before the imminent dizziness takes over. It does so a bit slower this time, but it's still unpleasant. Asgore sits down and picks up a book while she waits for the magic to happen.

/

"By the way, do you have any plans for how you want to battle Aofil, Asgore?"

A big white muzzle covers Aofil's lower vision.

"I have some plans, yes. I'll try the nonviolent method first."

Their chin feels a bit softer though. Aofil rubs their hand on it. Very much softer.

Undyne can't help but to put on a disappointed frown. "Aww, I wanted to see two kings fight."

"Can't have everything in the world," Aofil stops and drags their hand down on their throat. That is some serious depth to their voice. It stuns the entire room. "Wow!" is the only reaction they can muster.

Aofil catches a glimpse of themselves in the mirror. A pair of thick sideburns, the same color as their hair, flows from their head down to the underside of their cheeks. Not a lot going on underneath their chin though, but their fur feels a bit fluffier to the touch. Their horns are longer than ever before, almost tilting their head backwards. Their clothes are showing some stress from their body pushing the fabric to its limit.

Undyne whistles, mighty impressed over what she sees. "Impressive, Aofil. If you decide to stay this way I might even let you off doing pushups. At least on my lawn since your arms will tunnel straight to the Earth's core! Maybe though, just maybe."

"You feeling well enough to start, Aofil?" wonders Asgore, not really comfortable with not being the most imposing of figures any longer. "I'll prepare in the backyard if you need a bit more time."

Aofil stands up from the sofa, stopping for a second to take in the loud complaint it did. "I'm fine, so I'll follow you."

Asgore is again a bit taken back by someone else having a deeper voice than him. "Sounds good," he still acknowledges with a friendly nod.

The floorboards creak underneath Aofil's feet. They walk carefully as to spread out their weight as much as possible. Their head is dragged back as they reach the doorway though, as their horns hit the top of it with a thunk. They stumble backwards, but to everyone's relief they catch their balance. They bend down and tilt their head sideways only to have their horns drag against the side of the doorway.

"Sorry," they sheepishly apologize.

The suppressed giggling from everyone is punishment enough.

There's one voice that stands out though. A beautiful voice. Smooth as silk, and warming like a thousand fires on the coldest of days. Aofil turns around, and at the other end of the room, with her soft hand over her even softer muzzle, she stands. A muzzle opened in an innocent smile, all for Aofil. Her eyes are like gems, glistening like stars. An incredible creature.

A queen.

"Toriel?" Aofil asks.

"What is it, Aofil?"

She even speaks their name. Such bliss! Such joy! A thousand wishes could never match up to her beauty!

"I couldn't help but notice, Toriel, that you're standing. Why don't I help you find a suitable seat?" Aofil walks back to the biggest felt chair. They sit down, and pat their leg. "Here's one I'm sure you'll find to your liking."

"Oh my..." Toriel's hand is pressed harder on her muzzle. "Aofil, remember what you promised."

Aofil smiles warmly, and invitingly. "I'm not Aofil now, am I? I'm half Asgore, so you're allowed to indulge yourself a bit." Aofil offers their hand. "I only ask to be near you, that's all."

A hand grabs the fuzzy fingers, but it isn't one of fur, but of skin. Asriel balls Aofil's fingers together. "Aofil. Stop!" she gnarls furiously.

"I'm just-"

"No! Aofil. Stop! Go outside so we can get this over with."

Aofil turns their head towards Toriel. "Will it please you if I went outside?"

Toriel moves her eyes to Asriel. She sees the frustration in Asriel's face, and then moves her eyes back to Aofil. "Is me saying 'yes' to that the only way to get you out of here?"

"That," Aofil agrees, "and a kiss on the mouth."

Asriel grips and bends Aofil's fingers, but she barely moves them.

Toriel walks up to Aofil, bends down while holding their chin, and gives them a peck on their fuzzy cheek. "Now go outside before I decide to keep you."

Aofil's smile beams like the midday sun. "That can certainly be arranged."

"I was joking." Toriel lifts Aofil up by their arm. "Now off you go."

The outside air is a lot warmer than what it was before. Not as warm as Toriel, but not as cold as Asriel's stare. Could be that it's because Aofil's covered with fur this time.

They squeeze themselves carefully out the small patio door. Asgore asks Aofil to wait for a moment as he calls for Undyne. "You don't happen to have any gardening equipment?" she asks the blue monsters as she comes jogging out the door.

Undyne nods confidently, and whips up a scythe in her hand with her magic. "Whatcha want?"

"Some hedge clippers and the likes, if you don't mind."

"For Aofil as well?"

Asgore nods. "Please, and thank you."

Aofil's hands are filled with gardening tools of various kinds. A sizable collection, if the do say so themselves. Asgore motions for some hedges next to the shed. "You don't mind us working on those, Undyne?"

"Free trimmings from Asgore and almost Asgore?" She gives Asgore an approving and excited thumbs up. "It has to be Alphys' or my face though! Ngahahaha!"

A small breeze runs through Aofil's beard. They find themselves enjoying the feeling. They close their eyes and enjoy it for a bit.

A loud cough from Asgore snaps them out of it though. "Shall we?"

She's probably a bit upset not feeling it herself. Aofil enjoys it for a little bit longer before following Asgore to the hedges at the back fence of the yard.

"Alphys or Undyne?" Asgore asks once they both reach the frankly irresponsibly wild and untamed vegetation.

Aofil strokes their own wild and untamed bushy cheeks. "I don't know, do you have a preference?"

Asgore smiles ever so inviting. "I do not, but I appreciate you asking. Since you're technically the guest you should have first pick."

Aofil chuckles, feeling their volume filled, yet still relaxed voice, echo all the way to the house walls. "Oh no, Asgore, you're the expert here. I don't want to restrain you from expressing yourself."

"Oh for the love of!" Undyne heaves an annoyed sigh from across the lawn. "Asgore, you do my face! Aofil, you do Alphys'! There! Now we don't have to wait for you two to polite yourself back and forth until the shells fade on their own!"

Her flailing arms lowers after a brief pause of thinking. "Unless…"

Asgore pinches her forehead. "Yes, Undyne. I wanted to see if it would be enough to get our shells out.."

Undyne lifts a finger to explain herself, but she quickly puts it down, "I'm gonna head inside," before cursing herself out under her breath all the way back inside the house.

Asgore snickers to herself. "Then I guess we have to resort to sculpting."

Aofil looks at the tools in their hands, "Seems like it," but they're not really sure how to start.

Alphys is their goal, but where to begin? Should Aofil do her in profile? Probably. How will they do her spikes though? Should they try and create some negative space so it looks better whilst in shadow? The moon plus the sizzling light coming off Undyne's magic should be enough to see how the shadowing will play out.

There's some sticks around underneath the hedge. Might be useful to make her glasses in case Aofil doesn't have enough depth of the foliage to work with.

Aofil bounces the pruning scissors in their hand as they figure out the best angle to start on. A couple of strokes on their beard helps, and they decide to begin with the back of Alphys' head. It's the angle on her spikes that will determine the rest of the work, so it's best to work out from them instead of realizing that the angle is completely off halfway through.

Aofil snips the scissors, spins them around their finger once, and begins. It's not long before they feel a sudden urge to whistle. They begin with a subtle hum, but it escalates quickly to a jolly whistle.

A snippet here, a snippet there. All the perfect imperfections of the leafs fit the texture of Alphys' scales. Just need to carefully form the branches, to carefully bend the fractals of nature so that they make the desired shape. Gently though, Aofil need to keep in mind that they're only trimming, not forcing the hedge. If the hedge dies, how can Aofil make Alphys' face feel truly alive? Can't make living art on a dead canvas.

Oops, they cut a bit too much for her cheek. No worries though. They can make it work. Just a golly goof, that's all. No unfortunate happenings, just golly little goofs.

It doesn't take long before Alphys' face takes its rough shape. The more minute details comes along very quickly as well. Aofil's hands move unburdened. They barely have to touch or cut anything before it magically forms just like their mind envisions.

They take a step back, and allow themselves to indulge in their creation. They're not gonna admit it out loud, but it's an almost perfect image of Alphys. Had she been green it would've been perfect.

"Golly," they smile as they turn to see how Asgore's doing, "it's like Undyne's staring right at me."

She nods as she brushes off the last unruly leafs. "Was about to say the same about your Alphys, Aofil."

"Thank you," Aofil puts their hand up to their chest, "both outside and inside you."

Asgore joins in Aofil's pleased chuckle. Once it dies down though, she seems a bit concerned. "Your shell?"

Aofil looks down, but there's no white light almost blinding them. They look over to Asgore trying to bring out hers, but her chest is just as dark as Aofil's.

"Hm," Asgore furrows her brow in thought, "this is not what I expected."

"Asgore!"

Undyne comes running from the house with a phone in her hand and her other hand covering it. She stops with her eyes widened in panic. "It's the humans!"

Asgore motions for Undyne to be a bit more specific.

"The human meeting! From across the sea!"

Asgore's eyes widen just like Undyne's. "But I canceled," she whispers.

"Something about time zones! I don't know, but they sound angry!"

Asgore reaches for the phone, but Undyne pulls it back towards her. "Alphys' gadget broke when her shell did, by the way."

Asgore retracts her hand, and after some deliberating, she looks over to Aofil.

"Um..." they reply.

"It's the only way, I'll tell you what to say though," Asgore assures, "don't worry."

Aofil swallows, and holds out their hand for the phone. They nestle it under their ear while tilting it a bit outwards so Asgore can lean in and hear. "Asgore here," they speak while mimicking his voice as closely as possible.

Asgore clenches her teeth, but ones a voice comes back through the phone she relaxes a bit.

"Greetings, Asgore. Our deepest apologies for insisting on continuing with this meeting. We know you requested it to be moved, but the subject matter is too important to postpone."

Aofil looks to Asgore for any advice. She rolls her finger, so Aofil tries a reply. "It is I who should apologize, I should've informed you sooner that the clock wouldn't be in my favor. The blame is on me."

Asgore nods with her thumb extended. Aofil's a bit surprised it worked out so well.

"Pay it no further mind," the phone asks. "I'm also sure that you'd rather keep the negotiations short because of that. We have come to a general consensus and only need your input on it to finalize, Asgore. When it sounds fair to your ears we'll continue on our end and send over our proposal in written form so that you can go through it in your own time. Sounds good?"

Asgore nods, and Aofil relay. "That sounds wonderful. I'm all ears."

Asgore leans a bit closer so that she doesn't miss any details.

There's some shuffling of papers on the other end of the phone before another voice clears its throat. "I'm gonna cut to the chase, Asgore, the trade regulations proposed are a bit absurd. Could you please explain the importance of socks in your monster culture for you to prioritize this so high?"

Asgore freezes solid with her eyes stuck on Aofil, who puts their hand over the receiver. "What?" they mouth quietly.

Asgore scratches her nose while trying to figure out what to say. It takes so long that the phone has to ask. "You still there, Asgore?"

Aofil returns the phone underneath their ear. "I'm still here."

"Could you please tell?"

Asgore tries to tell, but she fails. She returns to her thinking, with her cheeks becoming increasingly red and blossoming.

"Is it," Aofil licks their lips, "is it important for you to know?"

There's no answer from the phone.

"Will you not knowing compromise us cooperating in current and future affairs?"

Asgore nods in deepest thanks to Aofil.

"I..." the sound of several fabrics rustling escapes the phone's speaker. "I guess not? It would help though if we knew the exact nature of your request."

Asgore huffs, clearly irritated by the lack of respect given. Aofil feels the same. They wonder how the suits on the other end would like a taste of their own medicine. Before they can open their mouth though they're overtaken by another thought. Instead of giving it back, what if they would take the extra step.

And be constructive instead?

Aofil breathes in deep through their muzzle. "And I presume you say that on top of a shadow less position where the truth is as rigid as a cement pillar and cannot be bent in the slightest? Look around the room you're in, how many would you trust with secrets you're not sure you can trust onto yourself? Yet, you still believe in them, and that they will see this proposal prosper to the best of their abilities. For as much as I want to stay fair and see us as equal, that won't happen until I am given the same in return. If you can overcome your fellow humans, then prove that you can overcome monsterkind as well, starting with me. I have seen human culture differing more between each other than I have monster culture from human. So, I ask you, why should I make business with someone who only sees barriers, and not opportunities?"

Aofil catches their mouth with their hand too late. Wide eyed they look down to Asgore. They've no idea where that came from! Honestly! Asgore's biting her lip with her eyes anxiously locked on the phone. It illuminates a bright yellow that fills the space between Aofil and Asgore.

"Comment retracted," says the phone. "We can continue."

Aofil bends over in a deep and long sigh that almost knocks Asgore over. They chuckle, but when they straighten their back up again they hear a crack.

The top of their white shells smacks into the bottom of Asgore's yellow shell. Aofil manages to cover the receiver of the phone just in time before the shells break apart.

"Asgore?" wonders the phone.

"We," Aofil falls down on one knee. They hold their hand out on their soul with all their strength to keep it from coming back inside them. "W-we're g-gonna have to postpone the negotiations for a short while. I'll call you back."

They disconnect the call just before their fingers slip on their soul, and it shooting back inside them. They bounce on their muzzle as they hit the grass hard.

/

A sharp elbow hits Aofil in the ribs. They open their eyes and turn their head to Sans smiling and holding a flask out to Aofil. "bone appetite," he wishes.

Aofil ignores the pun. "Not Asriel?"

"she wants to be last."

"Really?" Aofil bends their chin up to get confirmation from Asriel. To Aofil's surprise, she nods, "Huh."

"i'm offended that you think so little of me," Sans huffs out as she rolls her finger through her hair. "you're always looking down on me."

Aofil takes the flask, "Well, you know," they drink it all up. A bit sour, but not as sour as they'd imagined, "you are kinda short."

"heh. looks like it works instantly."

Undyne stands up from her chair. "Everyone prepare! Soon we'll have two Sans!"

"you make that sound negative."

Aofil lies back down and closes their eyes. "I'd rather get being a skeleton again over with as fast as possible. Could you think of something that would get our souls into conflict while I'm under?"

Sans shrugs. "maybe after i take a nap."

Aofil's sigh worsens their dizziness, and they fade out.

/

"aof? wake up, it's important."

Aofil shrugs with their eyes closed, or whatever it is making them not see anything. "Nah!" They're comfortable lying down not doing anything. "It's fine by me."

A bright light breaks through the dark of their closed eyes.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Undyne scoffs loudly. "Is that it?"

"well, you know," Sans taps on something, it has a very strange hollow sound to it. "good thing it's not a blueper."

"Why…" Undyne sighs tiredly. "Let's just smash the shells together already!"

Aofil peeks just in time to see Undyne pick up Sans and slam her blue heart down on Aofil's shell.

"Man, that felt good!" Undyne cheers. She plants Sans gently into a vacant chair.

"remember to thank me when you're human again, aof. you didn't even have to open your eyes."

"Humany times do you want me to?"

Sans chuckles before yawning. "Good one."

/

"aof? wake up, it's important."

Aofil rubs their eyes, and opens them. Sans, now back to his skeleton self, is holding a bone above Aofil. "your leg came off."

Aofil flies up! "What!" but as they pat their legs they don't find anything wrong with them.

Sans spins the bone between his fingers. "alright, aof's awake!" He lets the bone fizzle away and heads to the nearest soft pillow. He leans back into it. "wake me when they're done with asriel. for as much as i want to see the beautiful human princess getting swept away only for the big twist that she actually is a monster, i have to get my own beauty sleep. i might have some wrinkles after all that skin." Sans leans back into the sofa and closes his eyes. "although the title of sleeping beauty is better suited for asriel."

Aofil glances over to a fuming Asriel clenching at her legs not to fly off the hook.

Alphys offers a full glass to Aofil. "Some more water?"

Aofil takes it. "Thanks."

"I'll just get some of Asriel's essence and then we'll be back."

Aofil nods. "Sure thing."

"And also," Asriel looks around to the others, "can I do it alone with Aofil? Without any of you looking?"

"i was just kidding about the whole sleeping beauty thing..."

Asriel throws Sans a vicious leer. Not to great effect since his eyes are closed.

"I g-guess? But," Alphys wrings one of her claws around, "h-how will we know when the two of you are done?"

"just be in earshot of the explosion?" suggest Sans while still not making the effort to open his eyes. "if i were to guess, then that would be somewhere on this continent with these two clashing together," he proposes with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

The deafening silence that follows doesn't faze him. "and if we're all this quiet it might even stretch to two continents."

Asriel shakes her frustrated head. Her flowing hair waves back and forth like seaweed under a crashing wave, and she grabs it to make it stop. "Let's just go, Alphys."

With Asriel and Alphys disappearing down to the basement Aofil turns back to Toriel. "Where's Asgore, by the way?"

"Oh, he is on the phone with the humans."

"Did I," Aofil drums their finger on the half empty glass. "Did I screw it up?"

"I," Toriel bites her lip down. "I think it's fine, Aofil. Don't worry about it."

Not the most convincing assurance, but if Aofil's done enough damage already it might be better to leave it be to not do more. They nod with a smile. "Alright, gotcha."

Despite having drunk almost the entire glass of water Aofil's mouth still feels dry. They smack their tongue, but the dryness doesn't go away. They should refill it.

Once refilled in the kitchen they drink it all up. It helps, but not awfully much. Two more glasses soothes it though, and Aofil refills one more time just to be safe.

They almost bump into Asriel and Alphys on their way back up to the living room. Alphys fumbles with the flask in her hand, but Asriel catches it just before Alphys drops it.

"T-thanks!"

Asriel hands it to Aofil, who downs the water before moving on to the flask. To their surprise the water held more taste than Asriel's magic. They don't get to hang on that thought though, as they almost immediately after have to take support against the wall with their arm.

Undyne glides around the living room corner in a hurry. "Why did you drink it here?"

Aofil mumbles an answer, incomprehensible to everyone that's close enough to hear it. Undyne taps the side of her skull as she walks up to help Aofil not collapse on their own skull. "Sometimes," she says as she catches Aofil falling over, "even I am speechless about how we all act."

/

"You coming to life?"

The air in the room smells a bit different. More...pink. When Aofil opens up their eyes they see why, they're in a different room. Their hand hits the edge of their muzzle, and Aofil jumps a bit from the impact. With a small grunt they finally find their eyes with their hand and rub them. Carefully, don't want any fur in them.

Aofil sits up. "Yeah, I'm up," they inform with another grunt and stretch of their back. They look back at the bed that's a bit too small for their current form. A plastic figurine lies exactly where they back just were. Mew Mew season one, Mew Mew's companion during the rainbow arc.

"Mirror to your left."

Aofil turns to their left, and yup, there they are. Not as tall as they were as Toriel, but with a bit more broader shoulders and larger horns. Not as large as they were as Asgore though. Their clothes are fitting them almost perfectly now as well. Wait a second, there seems to be a bit of dirt on their cheeks. Aofil wets a finger, being very close to stab their own tongue, and attempts to brush the black lines off.

"That won't come off, so don't bother."

Aofil looks to Asriel sitting with her shoulders sunk down and her forehead in her hand. They drag a finger on the lines again. Doesn't feel like fur, nor skin. Weird.

"Please!" Asriel begs. "Stop touching yourself!"

A series of gasps slither their way through the door. With an angry sigh Asriel stands up and bangs her fist on the door. There's some commotion outside it, and she opens it slightly ajar. "I asked you to leave us alone!" she shouts to the ones outside.

She slams it back closed and sits down heavy into the pink and yellow chair. It doesn't even creak.

Aofil decides it's best to just get this over with. "You look like you want this done as quickly as possible, Asriel."

"You think?"

Could tone back on the sarcasm a little there. Another reason to get it done quickly, Aofil supposes. "So how do you want to do this?"

She shrugs and throws up her hands. "Not a clue."

"Do you want to just drag out your soul and see what will happen"

Asriel puts her hand up to her chest, being careful not to touch her chests plural. After some quiet focusing a bright crimson heart is revealed. She doesn't look so surprised by it though. "Figures it would be red."

Aofil grabs their own chest. "If Undyne saw you now she would be impressively jealous."

Asriel looks at her soul with lips curled and eyes narrowed in thought. "Yeah," she mutters. After a minute or so she looks at the door. She tiptoes up to it very strangely. Like in a movie, very dramatic. It perplexes Aofil for a bit before they realize and look down at their own feet. Soft as pillows. Asriel is not used to having to activate stealth mode, he's in it constantly normally. As long as he keeps the sharp toe claws in check.

Asriel concludes after another silent minute that she and Aofil are alone now. She tiptoes back to her chair and takes a deep breath. "Aofil?"

Aofil nods. "Yes?"

"Can you do me a massive favor afterwards and not tell anyone what I'm about to ask you?"

Aofil readjusts themselves on the sofa. What's Asriel planning? They nod, mostly out of curiosity.

Asriel glances down at their soul again. "Could you," they bounce it impatiently, "could you pretend to be me?"

Aofil could never be prepared enough to not let their jaw hit the floor from such a request.

Asriel continues regardless of Aofil's dazed expression. "And then I can pretend to be Frisk? And we could then redo the battle Frisk and me had before I broke the Barrier?"

The floor underneath Aofil's jaw is about to give in. "What?" they somehow manage to say.

"I know it sounds a bit weird of me to ask you to do this. To be fair I don't even know if we can do it. I'd never ask Frisk this, because...you know..."

Aofil tries desperately to pick up their jaw from the floor. They have to understand why. "Why?"

"Because," Asriel bites her teeth as she struggles to figure out how to explain it, "because it might help me. Help me forget. Maybe if I can put myself in Frisk's shoes I can understand how they thought...and it might help me forget how I thought."

Asriel slumps over in pain as she accidentally grips her soul. Aofil stand up to help, but Asriel motions for them to stay. She grits through the pain with some sharp gasps of air, and sits up again. "I'll never forget what I did, but maybe if I can think of it in another way I can work through it better."

"Alright," Aofil can't really see a reason to say no. "How do you want to do this then?"

"Maybe if you tried to bring out Flowey?"

Didn't have to wait long for one!

"No, I'm not gonna try and do that, Asriel. That's a horrible idea!"

Asriel sighs. "You're right, sorry," and beings her soul inside again. "Let's think of something else."

Suddenly the room is devoid of color. Devoid of warmth. No! Why did she do that? The soul was comforting to Aofil."Bring it out again." They point to Asriel's chest. "Get your soul out."

She looks up with her brow furrowed. "Why? It feels cold and weird when I have it out. Let's just think of something else."

Aofil stands up. "But it was nice to look at. It," they take a step forward, "reminded me of someone."

Asriel scoots back with her chair. "Aofil?"

"Is it red because that's what you've always wanted it to be?" Aofil reaches out for Asriel with a timid hand. "Is that it?"

Asriel steps out of her chair and takes cover behind it. "Aofil? Stay back. You're not you."

Aofil blinks, and then stops. They stare at their hands, running their fingers against the palm of their hand. No, it's not them. It's someone else. Someone better. Aofil can feel it now. It's flowing all throughout them. Determination. It's so good.

So many flavors of it as well. Not only their own, but all others as well. Aofil feel them all inside. Squirming, tickling them from inside.

They just need one more, and Asriel's soul is red, just like Frisk's. Just like Chara's. Someone needs to take care of it. Someone.

That's.

Not.

An.

Idiot!

"Should've been careful what you wished for Asriel," Aofil chuckles with their teeth exposed.

Asriel backs into the wall behind her with a silent squeal. "A-Aofil?"

A timid grin grows on the white muzzle. "It's me, Asriel."

Her eyes shoot wide open in fear.

"Your best friend."

Aofil leans over to the nearby wall, and flicks the ceiling light off.

The room is covered in darkness, but only for a short moment. From behind Aofil a vortex of colors begins forming. It spins like a top, throwing stars and colors all round them. It's not long before the room is even brighter and more colorful than before.

Stars, galaxies of shifting colors, clouds like translucent rainbows. All of them adds to the blinding shine that breaks up the seemingly infinite void created around the monster and human.

Asriel looks around, intimidated by the shift in both space and light. The room is not a room anymore, but a universe. A universe populated by countless sources of spectacular color and glistening stars.

One shines brighter than all other, and it grows ever stronger with every second that passes.

Asriel realizes just in time, and in the last second, she dodges the shooting star heading straight for her. She lands on solid ground, but it doesn't hurt, nor is it solid. A floor made out of nothing, yet still there for Asriel to stand on.

The trail of glistening sparks hover around Asriel, almost like if she was under water. She caresses one in her hand, clutching it close. When she opens it the spark is gone.

A booming laughter thunder all around her. It sounds like it's coming from everywhere at once, yet is still far away for it to be physically impossible for her to even hear it.

"Is this how you felt, Asriel?"

Aofil fades in before her. Their lips pulled back in a sinister grin, not from a muzzle, but from a human's mouth. Black eyes, with slim yellow irises running up and down, vibrates in excitement. Their blossoming cheeks are split in two by the black line running through them, and bursting out of Aofil's skull and through their hair is a pair of horns, wicked in shape. From their hands they weave stars and galaxies from their barest of whim.

"Is this what you wanted?"

Asriel gazes upon the god of this newly formed universe. She stares with legs shaking and arms cowering.

Aofil shakes their head while crossing their arms. "Looks like you got your wish then. Now," Aofil places their hand over their torso. With a nonchalant tug they extract their soul and holds it for Asriel to be awed by.

A spinning heart with all the colors of the rainbow rotating inside it in the opposite direction.

"You might've been a god, Asriel, but that was because you were elevated from just a monster. I've been elevated from a human!"

A pair of enormous wings shoots out from behind Aofil. Fur, scales, skin, and bone. All of it mixed together to form a membrane both grotesque and magnificent at the same time. Pulsating in sync with the spinning heart, the wings shift both in color and intensity of the four materials floating outstretched behind Aofil.

"You said you wanted to feel what Frisk felt?" Aofil flexes their wrist, summoning a spectral image

of Frisk next to Asriel. "Mirror to your left."

Asriel spins around, but the hair that graces their vision isn't golden, it's brown. Standing in the mirror is Frisk. Asriel takes a step back as the shock flows through them. They look down at the blue and purple striped shirt through eyes narrowed, almost like slits. Their skin has shifted, it's no longer fair skinned.

"And for me to pretend to be you?"

Asriel's ears perk. They turn to Aofil, being them. Just as they were back then. The same cocky smirk, the same dark colored robe giving way to a pair of white arms raised with hands flat up creating the same arrogant shrug. "I'm gonna keep my own wings though," Asriel hears himself speak with that gravely voice, "they're much more fitting a being greater than a god such as I. Also, for the sake of your wish, from now on, I will be Asriel, and you will be Frisk. Got it?"

"W-what? N-No!" Frisk shakes their head violently. "But-" They freeze in place. "How?"

"Pfft!" Asriel again shrugs with his palms raised over his head. "Didn't you do something similar before when you fought Frisk. Wait!" Asriel smacks his forehead and lets out a faint chortle. "I'm supposed to be Asriel! Sorry, I'll keep up the role playing from now on."

Frisk stares at their empty hands, baffled, with their eyes blinking as they can't believe what's happening. Even with everything that has happened today. Asriel agrees. "Yeah, something's missing. Let's see here..." He taps his muzzle while gently bobbing up and down in the air. His wings follow, still ever changing in both hue and fabric.

After some brief thinking he snaps his fingers, "Oh yeah!" causing a nearby cluster of galaxy to explode into a myriad of flickering shards. "The stick!" he exclaims, pushing away the remnants of the explosion with the force of his voice.

A twig materializes in Frisk's hand, and they recoil back as they feel the weight of it.

"You don't look convinced." Asriel crosses his arms. "There was a stick, right? I, I mean you, not you you, but real you, real Frisk..." He sighs tiredly. "This was more annoying than I thought it would be. Alright, gonna have to pull back the curtain here again, sorry. Frisk told me, Frisk told Aofil, that they used a stick when they fought you, Asriel. Is that correct?"

The stunned human manages a nod.

The monster shines up with the brightness of a supernova. "Great! Okay, back to our roles."

Asriel lifts his hand, and waves his fingers forward. A small army of stars close in on Frisk. They barely have enough time to look around and take in the threat before they start nimbly dodging both the direct impact, and then the subsequent burst shooting shards of glimmering wonder at their body.

Asriel nods, very impressed by the display. "The shell does more than I thought it would."

Frisk shoots a glare back.

Asriel puts his hands up. "Sorry, I'll go back to playing the role."

"That wasn't what I meant!"

Another star explodes behind Frisk, and they barely sidestep the following explosion. It tears a hole in their shirt, but doesn't break their skin.

"Good stuff!" Asriel reaches behind his back and pulls out a large white cannon with panes of glass covering the center of it. It fills up with a rainbow like energy, and Asriel whistles to catch Frisk's attention. "And here's some better stuff!"

An enormous beam of energy is fired out of the cannon. Asriel's robe and ears flutter in the turbulence it creates. Frisk jumps out of they way, and the beam passes right under one of their legs. It shoots off into the distant void, never to be seen again.

"Man, this is amazing! Wow!" The cannon fades away from Asriel's hands. "This is hype as all hell!"

He throws his arms diagonally down outwards, forming a pair of wicked swords, one in each hand. He spins them around, and prepares to lunge against Frisk. "Not spinning my head this time though!"

Frisk spins the stick in their hand as well, but it just summons a chuckle from Asriel.

Asriel bends his knees, and takes off.

As he swings his weapons, a trail of stars and distorted rainbows follow almost like a road behind. The wicked yet still angelic blades close in on Frisk, and they raise their stick to protect themselves.

The ensuing impact ripples out throughout the conjured cosmos, shattering everything into the tiniest of particles, and bending the fabric of reality itself like it was but paper in a hurricane. Planets, solar systems, entire galaxies, all annihilated in less than a blink of an eye.

Asriel weaves back from the impact, a smile brighter than the combined luminosity of the universe he's the master of stretching his lips and cheeks to the brim.

"Fuck!"

His sword are sucked up inside his sleeves.

"Yes!"

Frisk clutches their shoulder. They don't know if it's out of commission or not, but more importantly, they're still standing! Somehow their stick managed to deflect the blow. How it did they have no idea. They grunt from the pain, and throw a deadly glare towards the floating god howling with laughter.

"I know you're not one for swearing, but man!" Asriel clutches his head in total awe. "How the hell did you lose before? Seriously! Fuck me, dude. Or dudette."

"Frisk won by-"

"Ah ah ah!" Asriel reminds, they lean in towards the human with one hand covering the other side of his mouth. "Keep in character," he whispers playfully.

Frisk sighs. "I won by sheer determination. Even in the face of a god I kept my determination, I kept in mind what was important."

Asriel nods and motions for Frisk to continue.

"I," Frisk's brow narrows in thought, "beat you, Asriel. You thought you finally had it all. That you finally had achieved what you always wished for. You became arrogant, cocky, too full of yourself."

Asriel nods in agreement.

"Even though nothing about you was yourself!" Frisk brandishes their stick towards Asriel. "I won because my strength was earned, not stolen!" They charge forward! "You were just a shell, like you are now! Just as I had to break the shell once, I have to do it again."

Asriel takes a bow and applauds the human closing in on them. "Great speech!"

Aofil sidesteps the attack. They let their conjured image fade from both themselves, and Asriel. The image of Asriel as the Hypergod, and Frisk as the defiant human dissipates, leaving Aofil with their wings, and Asriel as her human self. "But the thing is, like I said before, I am a human. So you gotta try better than just running in a straight line at me." Aofil flicks one of their horns playfully. "Well, I'm more than human, but you get my point."

Asriel falls over. She braces for the impact, but it comes much sooner than she expects. On top of that, it's softer than she anticipated. A pink smell hits her nose as well. Almost as if…

"You see, Asriel. I am in the same situation as you were way back when fighting Frisk. I just need one more soul, the one you have. It's pretty stirred up at the moment since I can feel it all the way from here." Aofil waves some air into their nose. "Ah, smells like determination."

Asriel stands up, and to her surprise, the void below her creaks. It has to be! There's no other way. She only has to…

A spear swooshes by her head. "Hey!" Aofil snaps their finger. "I'm talking here, pay attention."

Quickly now! "Oh, I'll give you some attention alright!" Asriel brings out her soul. Aofil was right, it's pulsating like crazy! "If this is what you want, then come and get it."

Aofil can barely believe their ears. "A bit cliché, don't you think?" but they shrug it off, "Oh well, if you insist."

Should just be one step, and, perfect!

Asriel bends down and shoves her hands along the floor. The rough wooden texture gives way to soft fabric, and she hastily fumble for the edges of the rug that has to be there! She wraps the fabric around her hands, and thrust the carpet as high as she can!

Aofil stumbles over and lands heavily on their back. A pained moan echoes throughout the cosmos before it vanishes. The stars, galaxies, and the various and intense colors disappeared in an instant, leaving no light left.

Asriel waves her hand in front of her face, but she doesn't see it. With her arm outstretched she leans to her side, and to her immense delight, it hits a wall. She fumbles for the light switch, and finds it!

She flicks it, and finds herself back inside the room! She laughs in joy, but it's short lived, as she only now realizes that she's back to being human.

"Dammit."

Aofil rubs the back of their head. It hurt, despite landing on the carpet. They as well put their arm up against the light fixture stinging their eyes. They're back to being a monster.

"What just happened?"

Immediately after Aofil sits up in a hurry. Something inside their chest starts vibrating something fierce, like it's about to shake loose every bone and muscle in their body. They drag their soul out, and see that their white shell is cracking. Asriel does the same with hers.

The collective shockwave throws the door open and hits Undyne and Alphys in the face. They're both tossed backwards in a joint squeal alerting the rest in the house. A myriad of footsteps rush up the stairs. Toriel reaches the open door first.

In an instant she spins on her heels and stop the rest from gaining view of Asriel and Aofil bundled together. Aofil tries to explain, but their strength is sapped. They can't even remove Asriel's hair out of their face.

The golden hair soon turns darker as Aofil loses consciousness.

/

"My head..."

"good thing the worst one was the last."

Aofil presses the palm of their hand against their lobe. "Water, please and thank you, whoever brings it."

They're handed a plastic cup from Alphys. "A-all the glass kinda, um-"

"Shattered!" Undyne shouts in a mutter, sweeping up the last shards from below the living room window. "But it was worth it! That explosion was amazing!"

Aofil looks around. "So you're all back now?"

"Yes!" Toriel bows her head. "We thank you immensely, Aofil."

"It was my pleasure," they respond.

"Oh no!" retorts Undyne. "It was all our pleasure seeing you turn into every one of us!" She raises her arm to cheer, but in doing so she pours out all the shards of glass she collected. With a quiet swear she bends down to sweep them up again. "Although I'd love to hear what just happened."

Aofil glances over to Asriel who waves his hand flat across his throat while shaking his head.

"Can't remember," Aofil spurts out.

Asriel puts up a discrete thumb.

"SO, HOW DO WE DO THIS FOR FRISK'S BIRTHDAY?"

"Costumes," Aofil takes a sip of quenching water. "Definitely costumes."

"mirror?" Sans offers.

"I'm fine," Aofil says, but takes the opportunity to look down to make sure. "I'm also noticing that I have my own clothes back."

"Sans went ahead and fetched you some new ones," Asriel explains with his own clothes folded on his knees, "and I want these back if you don't mind."

Not a problem. "It's yours, after all."

"I'm glad we finally reached 'after all'."

Aofil can't help but not fully agree. They don't ever want to do it again, true.

"Yeah, me too," they still say.

But...


End file.
